Employees who have retired from the University of Minnesota under any of the following five circumstances may not be rehired at more than 19.5 hours per week (either as a single appointment or combined multiple appointments) and are not eligible for benefits:
- Those who have retired after accepting the Phased Retirement Program
- Those who have retired after accepting the Terminal Agreement Program, including the Federal Terminal Agreement Program
- Those who have retired after accepting the Retirement Incentive Options (RIO) offered Spring 2008 (retired no later than June 6, 2009), Spring 2011 (retired no later than January 12, 2012), and Summer 2020 (retired no later than January 15, 2021)
- Anyone receiving an incentive to retire, as with the Phased Retirement, cannot be employed at the University for at least six (6) months following their departure to avoid a sham retirement. Six months is a timeframe that can be reviewed in the future, as the IRS does not specify an exact timeframe but generally employers land on six months or longer for incentive scenarios.
- Those on the UMN retiree medical plan (because they cannot move back and forth between retiree medical and active medical plans).
- Anyone retiring with MSRS needs to be retired for at least two (2) pay periods in order to be eligible to receive pension payments while working part-time.
- Those who have started receiving retirement annuity payments from the Minnesota State Retirement System (MSRS) or Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) should review the impact of their pension with MSRS or PERA. Below are links for information from the MSRS and PERA for retirees considering a rehire, which they should read first and then may need to call MSRS or PERA. The University will not answer questions related to this topic.
https://www.msrs.state.mn.us/re-employment
https://mnpera.org/retirees/working-after-retirement/
Anyone who has retired from the University who does not fall into one of these categories may work more than 19.5 hours per week. However, please note if the retiree is taking distributions from the Faculty Retirement Plan (FRP) or our voluntary plans, they may not be eligible to continue receiving distributions once they return to work unless they are eligible for an in-service distribution in one of the plans.
Retirees contemplating a return to work at the University are advised to consult with their retirement provider (eg: Fidelity, MSRS, etc.).
Employees should not consider or discuss returning to work prior to retiring. A break in service is required and all retirees must have a minimum of two pay periods without receiving any payment from the University before being rehired (including vacation payout if applicable). Participants in some retirement programs, such as the Phased Retirement Program, may have longer waiting periods before being eligible for rehire so please confirm with the specific program documents in advance.