HOUSE PASSES SCHOOL RETIREE WORK EXPANSION

HOUSE PASSES SCHOOL RETIREE WORK EXPANSION

People who retire from public schools in Michigan and come back to work for those entities during an emergency would get more time to do so under legislation that passed the House on Thursday.

HB 4593 (105-1) extends the number of years a retiree can work in a school facing a "critical shortage" or "emergency situation" from six to eight. The legislation also removes the July 1, 2011 sunset for that provision.

Schools across the state have re-hired retired teachers and administrators because they can fill a temporary need in the program, but that situation also allows the school to be exempt from paying for a retirant's medical and retirement benefits. Retired employees also receive their pension and a salary from the schools in this situation.

The so-called "double-dipping" that this brings up was part of the intense debate over last year's state budget and how government should be reformed.

The House and Senate both passed HB 4799, which would freeze pension benefits to retired people during the time they are reemployed by a school. But the Senate requested that the bill be returned to its chamber in October and the matter has never been taken up since.

The bill passed by the House Thursday does extend the time period for work, but it also requires that after the third year school districts pay 50 percent of the retiree's health care costs to the retirement system. The cost would rise to 100 percent for the fourth and subsequent years a retired person was employed by the school district.

It also mandates the State Board of Education to decide whether a school district's request to fill a job with a retiree is warranted.