Benefits

Faculty and Staff Phased Retirement Procedures- Step by Step

The University of Kentucky offers Faculty and Staff the ability to request Phased Retirement per Administrative Regulation 3:2. These procedures are for informational purposes and not intended to supersede AR 3:2 or any other policies.   http://www.uky.edu/Regs/files/ar/ar3-2.pdf

(A) Faculty Phased Retirement Procedure:

Step 1

Verify Eligibility Per AR 3:2: 
A Retirement Officer in the Employee Benefits Office can verify whether a Faculty employee is eligible to apply for Phased Retirement.  The Retirement Officer will verify the faculty member has 15 years of eligible service time and is age 60 or older.  A Service Check can be requested by calling 257-9519, option 3.  If this has already been determined, then proceed to Step 2.

Step 2

Draft the Phased Retirement Agreement , including other applicable documents: 
Requests for Phased Retirement should be submitted by the Faculty employee to the applicable Department Chair, Dean or Director at least 1 semester prior to the requested start date.  Here are items to consider.

  1. Faculty Phased Retirement Agreement (Click here to access form)
  2. Distribution of Effort (DOE)
  3. Research, Grant or Clinical Duties
  4. Other Responsibilities
  5. The FTE (Full Time Equivalency) shall be no less than .5 FTE, but can be more than .5 FTE as necessary.
  6. The salary is prorated by the FTE (additional assignments generally excluded)
  7. Phased Retirement Agreements can stipulate the agreement is on a year by year basis and subject to renewal each fiscal year or can be greater than one year.  However, the agreement shall not exceed 5 years.
  8. The Faculty employee must retire at the end of their Phased Retirement Assignment.
  9. Once on a Phased Retirement assignment, the Faculty employee is not eligible for annual salary increases.

Phased Retirement is not an absolute right of the Faculty employee and each department or College should determine if Phased Retirement would be deemed in the best interests of the University.

Step 3

Educational Unit Approval: 
The appropriate Chair, Dean or Director shall approve the agreement and forward to the Provost’s Office for final approval.


Step 4

Forward a copy of the final Agreement to Employee Benefits: 
Upon final approval by the Provost’s Office, a copy of the fully executed Phased Retirement Agreement should be faxed or mailed to the Employee Benefits Office.  This allows Retirement Officers to track when the Faculty employee will ultimately be retiring.  Also, the Employee Benefits Office will make sure the Faculty employee’s benefits are not interrupted.

Employee Benefits, 115 Scovell Hall, Lexington, KY 40506-0064 or 323-1095 (fax)

Step 5

Action is entered by the department in the payroll system (SAP):
It is each department’s responsibility to enter the Phased Retirement Action in SAP.  Directions for completing the action in SAP through PA 40 can be followed by clicking here.

There is an attribute that must be updated and it’s a good idea to contact a Compensation Analyst at 257-9555 option 6 or http://www.uky.edu/HR/comp/contact.html

The position number may have to be deleted and re-entered during the action, but can be the same position number used just prior to going on Phased.

Don’t forget to generate a Payroll Authorization Record (PAR) and forward to Compensation.


Additional Phased Retirement Notes: Please click here.

 

(B) Staff Phased Retirement Procedure:

The procedures for the employee to follow are listed below.

Step 1

Contact the Employee Benefits Office and inform a retirement officer that you are interested in phased retirement.  The retirement officer will perform a “service check” and verify that you have 15 years of regular full-time service (consecutive service if hired after 7/1/97) and that you are age 60 or older. These criteria are mentioned AR 3:2.  Once you have established that you meet these criteria, you can move to step 2.

Step 2

Staff employees who are interested in applying for phased retirement should make the request in writing to their immediate supervisor three(3) months in advance.

Supervisors should discuss the request with the administrator for their area or department.  Consideration should be given to the type of position the employee has, the department’s ability to “backfill” the position on a half-time basis and the duration of the agreement.  The department may decide not to approve the request.  If the department does support the request for phased retirement, it is then submitted for approval to the Dean, Director Associate Vice President or Vice President, and then in turn to the Executive Vice President/Provost.

Step 3

Once the employee's request for phased retirement has been granted, the “Agreement for Staff Phased Retirement” form should be completed by the department and signed by all parties involved. 

The agreement should cover the employees work schedule, FTE, base salary (proportionate to the new FTE) and the length of the phased retirement.  Agreements can be renewable but phased retirement cannot exceed 5 years per the administrative regulation.

Step 4

Forward the completed Staff Phased Retirement Agreement to the Benefits office at 115 Scovell Hall, 0064 or fax to 323-1095.

Step 5

Action is entered by the department in the payroll system (SAP):
It is each department’s responsibility to enter the Phased Retirement Action in SAP.  Directions for completing the action in SAP through PA 40 can be followed by clicking here.

There is an attribute that must be updated and it’s a good idea to contact a Compensation Analyst at 257-9555 option 6 or http://www.uky.edu/HR/comp/contact.html

The position number may have to be deleted and re-entered during the action, but can be the same position number used just prior to going on Phased.

Don’t forget to generate a Payroll Authorization Record (PAR) and forward to Compensation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Forms

Staff Phased Retirement Agreement