St. Thomas will offer a voluntary retirement incentive for regular full-time and regular part-time faculty and staff members who meet certain criteria and choose to retire on May 31, 2014.
Eligible faculty and staff can voluntarily elect to participate in the program during an election period beginning on Monday, Nov. 18, and ending on Monday, Feb. 3, 2014. Retirement must occur on May 31, 2014. Participants who meet all program requirements will receive an incentive payment, payable in a lump sum or in equal bi-weekly installments, equal to one year of the participant’s base salary. Participants who meet the university’s eligibility criteria for its full benefits package (those who are a minimum 0.625 FTE) also will receive a benefits subsidy in the amount of $7,250, which is the equivalent of one year’s continuation of employee-only health insurance coverage under COBRA.
The voluntary programs are intended to help make retirement feasible for faculty and staff who are ready to retire but have had financial or other concerns about moving forward. The programs also benefit the university community, by enabling the redeployment of resources in ways that best meet the changing needs of students and the institution, and that best facilitate the achievement of the strategic objectives that will be identified during the university’s upcoming strategic planning process.
To be eligible to participate in the respective faculty or staff voluntary retirement incentive program, individuals must meet the following criteria as of Feb. 3, 2014:
- Be age 55 or older;
- Have completed at least 10 years of continuous service with the University of St. Thomas as a regular full-time or regular part-time employee; and
- Have a combined age and years of continuous service with the University of St. Thomas equal to or greater than 70 (for example, age 55 plus 15 years of continuous service, or age 60 and 10 years of continuous service).
Staff covered by a collective bargaining agreement and temporary employees (including adjunct faculty) are not eligible to participate in the programs.
All eligible faculty and staff who elect to participate and meet all applicable program requirements will be approved as participants in the program.
Program participants may choose to receive their incentive payments in a lump sum or in bi-weekly installments for a 12-month period following their fulfillment of all program requirements. Regardless whether payments are paid in a lump sum or bi-weekly, university benefits will cease at the time of retirement except as provided by law, university policy or the program documents.
Program documents, including election forms, will be available starting Friday, Nov. 15, on the Human Resources website. Faculty and staff who wish to participate in the program must submit their election forms to Human Resources no later than Monday, Feb. 3, 2014.
Managers who wish to maintain and fill positions that are vacated as a result of faculty or staff participation in the program, or who wish to restructure and fill vacated positions, must apply and receive approval to do so from the president’s senior staff.
Human Resources will offer information sessions about the voluntary retirement incentive programs in early December. Watch the Newsroom and Human Resources website for more details.
For more information contact Deb Sagstetter, rewards and recognition manager, (651) 962-6521.
