Retirement of EPA Faculty Employees

Each faculty member may retire in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 135 of the North Carolina General Statutes "Retirement System of Teachers and State Employees") at any time.  The only exception is that nine-month employees must retire at the end of their contract year, i.e., May 31, June 30 or December 31.  For nine-month faculty, any deviation from the usual retirement or resignation date would be exceptional and will require review and approval by the appropriate dean's office. 

The General Assembly's definition:

   "Retirement means the termination of employment and complete
   separation from active service with no intent or agreement, express
   or implied, to return to service.  A retirement allowance under the
   provisions of this chapter may only be granted upon retirement of a
   member.  In order for a member's retirement benefit to become
   effective in any month, the member must render no service,  including
   part-time, temporary, substitute, or contractor service, at any  time
   during the six months immediately following the effective date of
   retirement."

For members of the Teachers and State Employees Retirement System (TSERS), in order for a member's retirement to become effective in any month, the member must render no service, including part-time, temporary, substitute, or contractor service, at any time during the six months immediately following the effective date of retirement.

This policy does not apply to participants in the University of North Carolina Phased Retirement Program.

The HR Benefits Office can provide information on post-retirement benefits and various retirement plans.  Occasional seminars are provided for employees planning for retirement.

The Board of Trustees of the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System has amended the provision affecting earnings by a retired employee who becomes re-employed with a State Agency.

If you are re-employed on a part-time, interim, temporary, or contractual basis, or are otherwise engaged to perform services on any basis that does not require membership in the Retirement System that you retired from, your retirement payment will be stopped if your earnings during the 12-month period immediately following the effective date of retirement or during any calendar year exceed your earings limitation, which is calculated as the greater of the following:

$28,080; or

50% of your compensation, excluding terminal payments, reported to the Retirement System during the 12 months of service preceding the effective date of your retirement.  (These amounts are increased on January 1 of each year by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index.)

It is the responsibility of the retiree to monitor earnings.

Retirement payments will be stopped on the first day of the month following the month in which earnings exceed the greater of the two limits stated above.  Retirement payments will start again on January 1 of the year after the benefit is stopped.

Personnel facilitators receive updated salary guidelines each year through memoranda sent to "Deans, Directors, and Department Heads."  For more information about post-retirement earnings, see the following website: http://www.treasurer.state.nc.us.

For ORP retirees, there is no limit on earnings or six month wait for reemployment on a parttime basis.

A faculty member may choose to fully retire and negotiate a part-time contract with the Chair instead of entering the phased retirement program.  The salary, FTE and length of contract are determined by the Chair.  Whereas the phased retirement program guarantees half-time pay for three years, this part-time contract could be for less salary and time as well as possibly a year-to-year contract.  Faculty hired under this arrangement are appointed as fixed-term faculty, and are temporary employees with no benefits.

A retiree must render no service, including part-time, temporary, substitute, or contractor service, at any time during the six months immediately following the effective date of retirement.  This policy does not apply to participants in the University of North Carolina Phased Retirement Program at this time.

Around the first of March each year, the Chancellor's Office receives a request from Office of the President to submit a list of faculty retiring during the past year so that they may be recognized at the May meeting of the Board of Governors.  The faculty member should be consulted regarding his/her wishes on this matter.  (Faculty entering the Phased Retirement Program should not be included.)  Those EPAWeb actions that do not designate "Emeritus" status will not be included on the list sent to the Board of Governors. 

Retired professors cannot be given the title "Emeritus" until all University services have been completed, i.e., retired tenure-track faculty appointed to a fixed-term appointment cannot hold the title "Emeritus."

Resolution 2004-3 enacted by the Faculty Council provides as follows:

"Members of the voting faculty, as defined in the /Faculty Code of University Government/, who take service retirement and are no longer performing compensated services for the University may continue to use the professorial titles and distinctions that they held immediately prior to retirement with the courtesy designation "emeritus" or "emerita" appended."