Exempt Post Retiree Re-Employment

Approved: November 27, 2000
By: President Thomas L. Purce
Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Barbara L. Smith
Interim Vice-President for Finance and Administration, Steven Trotter
Vice-President for Student Affairs, Art Costantino
Vice-President for College Advancement, Frank McGovern

This policy presents the guideline for re-employment of exempt employees of The Evergreen State College who have retired from the College under the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and return to employment in their same position without a competitive recruitment under the Higher Education Retirement Plan (HERP).

PURPOSE

The purpose of the policy is:

a. to educate interested exempt employees and to treat them consistently;

b. to protect the college in the event the retiree is not successful in attainment of re-employment;

c. to be mindful of taxpayers contributions and not intentionally guarantee employment to all qualifying employees (whether their employment is critical to the college or not); and

d. to provide the college with the critical personnel resources to perform certain necessary functions.

POLICY

a. All exempt staff of The Evergreen State College who have interest in retiring from the Public Employees Retirement System and returning to work in the same position in a non-competitive process are required to go through the formal approval process outline below prior to any agreement concerning re-employment in that capacity. This policy does not apply to classified employees because they are not eligible for coverage under TIAA-CREF.

b. The employee is responsible for making his or her initial decision about using this process, and in several places along the way, whether or not to continue. The process includes the following steps:

1. Employee meets with Human Resource Services (HRS) to receive information about this policy.
2. HRS provides the employee with the information and criteria that the decision will be based on and the implications of that decision.
3. The employee then determines if he/she wants to go forward with a formal request.
4. If the employee decides to proceed, then a formal, comprehensive, written request to HRS, identifying the criteria to be considered for re-employment is written by the employee and the reporting manager.
5. The request should also include specific information about specific duties and why the employee meets the criteria listed below. (see c. below)
6. HRS reviews and evaluates the employee's request using the established criteria and provides feedback to the employee as to whether the request meets the criteria.
7. The employee decides whether or not to go forward with the request.
8. If the employee decides to proceed with the request, HRS forwards the request and a recommendation to the employee's Vice President or President for a decision about re-employment.
9. The employee's Vice President or President makes the final decision about re-employment.
10. The employee decides whether or not to go forward with his or her retirement.

(c) A comprehensive written request for re-employment must be filled out by the employee and the reporting manager. The employee's request must articulate that the retiring/retired employee meets at least one of the following criteria to be considered for re-employment. In addition, the re-employment request and justification should include specific information about specific duties and why the employee meets the criteria below.

1. Unique nature of the service and/or the unique qualifications, abilities or expertise of the employee to meet the institution's needs. Unique service would be those positions which are highly specialized or one-of-a-kind. However, other factors which may be considered include past performance, cost-effectiveness (learning curve) and/or follow-up nature of the required services.

2. Any other special circumstance which may be relevant such as confidential investigations, copyright restrictions, or time constraints. If time constraints are applicable, identify when the institution was on notice of the need for the services, the entity that imposed the constraints, explain the authority (if not obvious) of that entity to impose them, and provide the timelines within which the work must be accomplished.

3. Sole availability in the location is required. If the employee is the only source available in the geographical area, state the basis for this conclusion and the rationale for limiting the size of the geographical area selected.

All employees receiving approval for re-employment are solely responsible for working with the Department of Retirement Systems to ensure that their employment does not interfere with their Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) retirement benefits.