Colleges hope to hire back retirees

Colleges hope to hire back retirees

News Observer, January 12th, 2010

Strapped for cash and short on staff, the UNC system wants the state to lessen the six-month period that retired state employees must wait before going back to work for North Carolina.

If the state scaled that waiting period back to one month, as the UNC system wants, faculty and staff members could draw retirement pay while providing expertise in classrooms and elsewhere that, in an era of budget cuts, may otherwise be lacking, officials say.

UNC-system leaders will discuss the issue this week and might make it a formal part of the system's 2011-13 legislative policy agenda - essentially, a priority list of needs to lobby for.

For university leaders, the use of newly retired professors - generally on a short-term, part-time basis - is a cheap way to fill teaching slots with experienced instructors. The six-month waiting period is, in many cases, too long to wait, said Laurie Charest, interim vice president for human resources with the UNC system.

"Retirees are the most valuable and most needed immediately after they retire," Charest said. "We're getting a knowledgeable person to do a job, generally at a low rate of pay."

In some states, versions of this practice, known as "double-dipping," have been frowned upon because retired employees - often highly paid administrators - draw pension payments while going right back to their old jobs and salaries.

In North Carolina, there are safeguards against this, Charest said.

Now, the state mandates that all employees who retire wait six months before working again for any state agency. Retirees can return only to part-time service, usually for a set period guaranteed by contract. A worker can earn only up to half of the annual salary he or she was receiving at the time of retirement. Such workers don't receive health benefits.

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