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Retirement

Retirement

Eligibility for retirement and continuation of group health insurance coverage is determined by the employee’s age and years of continuous full-time employment with the University. Employees will be considered eligible when the criteria in one of the following options is met. There is no continuation of group health insurance if an employee was hired on or after January 1, 2013. 

Option A: Employees may continue group health insurance at the retiree rate if by the retirement date they

  • are at least age 55 years, and

  • have completed at least 15 years of continuous full-time employment, and

  • have a combination of age and years of continuous full-time employment that totals at least 80.

  • were hired prior to January 1, 2013.

OR

Option B: (Available only for employees hired prior to July 1, 1996): Employees may continue group health insurance at the retiree rate if by the retirement date they

  • are at least age 62 years, and

  • have completed at least 15 years of continuous full-time employment.

Dependent Coverage

  1. Group health insurance may also be continued for eligible dependents insured at the time of retirement.

  2. Retirees may terminate group health insurance coverage for an eligible dependent at any time but may not add new dependents.

Disability Provision / “Bridge” Policy

The Disability Provision is intended to act as a bridge which may allow the employee to meet eligibility requirements for retirement and transition to retiree benefits.  If applicable, this provision allows an employee to remain covered on the group health insurance plan from the date of disability as follows:

Years of continuous, full-time Service:

Continuation Period:

0-10 years

1 year

11-20 years

2 years

21-30 years

3 years

31-40 years

4 years

41+ years

5 years

Employees must continue to pay the employee’s share of the health insurance premium through the continuations period.

Example of how this provision works:  If an employee is 55 years old with 23 years of service and becomes disabled, this employee does not meet the eligibility requirements of the Retirement Policy (55 + 23 = 78).  However, the bridge would allow this employee to continue for up to 3 more years on the active coverage at which time the employee would meet eligibility requirements for retirement and transition to retiree benefits.

Procedures

  1. The employee who elects to retire must submit a letter of retirement, which includes the retirement date to his/her supervisor. A copy of the letter must be forwarded to Human Resources.

  2. The employee considering retirement should contact the Social Security Office six months prior to the planned retirement.

  3. The employee who has participated in a University-sponsored retirement plan should contact the carrier six months prior to the planned retirement to discuss options for distribution of funds.

  4. The Human Resources Staff is available to assist the employee in the transition from active employment status to retirement. Employees are encouraged to contact Human Resources to discuss retirement date, benefits (i.e., Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Retirement Plan) and any other questions regarding retirement.