Faculty faces changes to retirement plans
A new Phased Retirement Policy is to be implemented for Utah State University employees and changes to the Early Retirement Policy will be instituted in a of couple years.
The purpose of the new policy is “to encourage staffing flexibility, consistent with overall university and individual department needs, and to provide faculty and staff an opportunity to devote increased time to personal interests by partially retiring, or retiring in planned stages, while continuing to provide service to the university in their area of expertise,” according to the policy.
It is available to employees who are at least 58 years old and have completed at least 10 years of service with the university, according to the policy.
Employees can be approved for phased retirement on a one-year trial basis as a partial leave of absence, but that employee would not be eligible for full retirement benefits until they are completely approved, according to the policy.
There are two changes being made to the Early Retirement Policy, said Fred Hunsaker, vice president for Administrative Services. The first is to change the age from 56 to 60, and the second is to change the total participation time from six years to five years.
“As a whole, we feel campus acceptance of it,” Hunsaker said.
Implementation of the new policy is planned to take place before the end of December, he said.
“It enables people who prefer to phase into retirement to do so more gradually,” Hunsaker said. “There are some people who like to do it in increments instead of cold turkey.”
The key thing everyone needs to be aware of is that none of the changes to the early retirement will be deferred for about two years before they are implemented, Hunsaker said.
“The door is not slamming in their face,” he said.
Due to “unwise use by some of the departments on campus,” the Early Retirement Program has become a financial burden and has necessitated the changes, said Greg Jones, Faculty Senate chairman.
The old Early Retirement Policy granted retired employees 20 percent of their salary, Jones said.
Hunsaker said that this money is not available to hire someone else.
The new phased policy gives 50 percent of salary to employees who are still working but are no longer full-time, Hunsaker said.
This new plan will make early retirement more affordable for the university, Jones said.
Right now, the policy is in the input period where it is presented to the university and revisals are made as necessary, Hunsaker said. Next, they will meet with the University Board of Trustees, probably at next month’s meeting, and present it to them, he said.
The Faculty Forum, held Nov. 5, raised questions from the faculty that need further clarification, Hunsaker said. One of these was about the approval process itself, and another was the definition of salary. The administration is working to identify and clarify all such issues.