STATE OF NEW JERSEY
214th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2010 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman GORDON M. JOHNSON
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblyman JOHN S. WISNIEWSKI
District 19 (Middlesex)
Assemblyman VINCENT PRIETO
District 32 (Bergen and Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Increases from $15,000 to $30,000 annual compensation in PERS-covered employment retiree may earn without reenrollment.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning the employment of certain retired members of the Public Employees' Retirement System of New Jersey and amending P.L.1966, c.217.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 27 of P.L.1966, c.217 (C.43:15A-57.2) is amended to read as follows:
27. a. Except as provided in subsections b. and c. of this section, if a former member of the State Employees' Retirement System or the retirement system, who has been granted a retirement allowance for any cause other than disability, becomes employed again in a position which makes him eligible to be a member of the retirement system, his retirement allowance and the right to any death benefit as a result of his former membership, shall be canceled until he again retires.
Such person shall be re-enrolled in the retirement system and shall contribute thereto at a rate based on his age at the time of re-enrollment. Such person shall be treated as an active member for determining disability or death benefits while in service and no benefits pursuant to an optional selection with respect to his former membership shall be paid if his death shall occur during the period of such re-enrollment.
Upon subsequent retirement of such member, his former retirement allowance shall be reinstated together with any optional selection, based on his former membership. In addition, he shall receive an additional retirement allowance based on his subsequent service as a member computed in accordance with applicable provisions of chapter 84 of the laws of 1954; provided, however, that his total retirement allowance upon such subsequent retirement shall not be a greater proportion of his final compensation than the proportion to which he would have been entitled had he remained in service during the period of his prior retirement. Any death benefit to which such member shall be eligible shall be based on his latest retirement, but shall not be less than the death benefit that was applicable to his former retirement.
b. The cancellation, re-enrollment, and additional retirement allowance provisions of subsection a. of this section shall not apply to a former member of the retirement system who, after having been granted a retirement allowance, becomes employed again by: (1) an employer or employers in a position or positions for which the aggregate compensation does not exceed [$15,000] $30,000 per year; or (2) if the compensation exceeds $10,000 per year, by an employer that is a public institution of higher education as defined in N.J.S.18A:62-1 in a teaching staff position. The Director of the Division of Pensions and Benefits may from time to time adjust the amount in paragraph (1) of this subsection. This adjustment shall be 3/5 of the percentage of change in the index, as defined in section 1 of P.L.1958, c.143 (C.43:3B-1), over a period of time as determined by the director.
c. The cancellation, reenrollment, and additional retirement allowance provisions of subsection a. and the compensation limitations of subsection b. of this section shall not apply to a former member of the retirement system who, after having been granted a retirement allowance, becomes employed by the State Department of Education in a position of critical need as determined by the State Commissioner of Education, or becomes employed by a board of education in a position of critical need as determined by the superintendent of the district on a contractual basis for a term of not more than one year; except that the cancellation, reenrollment, and additional retirement allowance provisions and the compensation limitations shall apply if the former member becomes employed within 120 days of retirement in a position with the employer from which the member retired. Nothing herein shall preclude a former member so reemployed by a board of education from renewing a contract for one additional year, provided that the total period of employment with any individual board of education does not exceed a two-year period
(cf: P.L.2001, c.355, s.2)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill increases, from $15,000 to $30,000, the maximum annual compensation a retiree of the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) is permitted to earn when reemployed after retirement in a PERS-covered employment without reenrollment in the retirement system.
Under current law, if a member of PERS who retires and receives a retirement allowance for any cause other than disability subsequently becomes employed again in a position which makes the retiree eligible to be a member of PERS, the retiree is required to reenroll in the retirement system and the payment of a retirement allowance ceases, unless the aggregate annual compensation of the subsequent employment does not exceed $15,000. Absent reenrollment in PERS, the retiree collects the compensation of the subsequent employment and continues to receive the retirement allowance based upon the retiree's former PERS membership. This bill would allow a PERS retiree to earn not more than $30,000 per year in a PERS-covered employment without reenrollment in PERS.