Sponsored by:
Assemblyman TIM EUSTACE
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Reduces pension paid to TPAF, JRS, PERS, PFRS or SPRS retiree reemployed with public employer by $1 for each $2 earned up to Social Security yearly earnings limit.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the pension benefit of a retiree of a State-administered defined benefit retirement system reemployed by a public employer and supplementing chapter 3C of Title 43 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary, if a retired member of the Teachers' Pension and Annuity Fund, established pursuant to N.J.S.18A:66-1 et seq., the Judicial Retirement System, established pursuant to P.L.1973, c.140 (C.43:6A-1 et seq.), the Public Employees' Retirement System, established pursuant to P.L.1954, c.84 (C.43:15A-1 et seq.), the Police and Firemen's Retirement System, established pursuant to P.L.1944, c.255 (C.43:16A-1 et seq.), and the State Police Retirement System, established pursuant to P.L.1965, c.89 (C.53:5A-1 et seq.), is employed by the State or another public employer in this State in a position which does not require reenrollment in a retirement system and suspension of the retirement allowance, the retirement allowance payable to that retiree shall be reduced by $1 for each $2 of gross salary payable to that retiree during that employment, except that the retirement allowance shall not be reduced below the yearly earnings limit currently applicable to recipients of a Social Security retirement benefit who are younger than full retirement age for the entire year. A public employer shall make an inquiry of the Division of Pensions and Benefits in the Department of the Treasury to determine for each employee if the employee is such a retiree and notify the division of the amount of the salary for such an employed retiree. This section shall not apply to a retiree of the Judicial Retirement System who is recalled by the Supreme Court for temporary judicial service within the judicial system.
2. This act shall take effect on the 90th day after the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill provides for a possible reduction in the pension of a retired member of the Teachers' Pension and Annuity Fund (TPAF), the Judicial Retirement System (JRS), the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS), the Police and Firemen's Retirement System (PFRS), or the State Police Retirement System (SPRS) who is employed by a public employer in this State.
The bill provides that if a retired member of TPAF, JRS, PERS PFRS or SPRS is employed by the State or another public employer in this State in a position which does not require reenrollment in a retirement system and suspension of the retirement allowance, the retirement allowance of that retiree will be reduced by $1 for each $2 the retiree receives in salary but not below the yearly earnings limit applicable to a recipient of Social Security who is younger than full retirement age for the entire year. The reduction will not apply to a retiree of the Judicial Retirement System who is recalled by the Supreme Court for temporary judicial service within the judicial system.
Under federal law, if a recipient of a Social Security retirement benefit is younger than full retirement age for the entire year, $1 is deducted from that benefit for every $2 earned above the yearly earnings limit. For 2015, that limit is $15,720. In the year in which the recipient reaches full retirement age and for the months before reaching that age, $1 is deducted for every $3 earned above a different limit on earnings. That limit is $41,880 for 2015. Full retirement age for this purpose is defined by Social Security as age 66 for persons born between 1943 and 1954, with an increase of 2 months for each year thereafter so that full retirement age is 67 for those born in 1960 and onward.
The bill would take effect on the 90th day after the date of enactment and would apply to current retirees then employed by a public employer as well as to retirees who become so employed thereafter.