State of Washington law permits a faculty member to be reemployed up to 40% time, after retirement. The University of Washington has, by policy, granted to tenured faculty members the prerogative of requesting reemployment. By policy, the University has vested in tenured faculty members the right beginning at age 62, to be re employed up to a maximum of 40% time for instructional and/or research purposes for five years after the date of retirement.
The University defines 40% as that maximum amount that it can pay a retiree from all sources (state funds, grant and contract funds, self-supporting budgets, professional/continuing education/extension funds, Summer Quarter, etc.). This amount is calculated by multiplying the individual's base salary rate at the time of retirement by 40%. Nine-month faculty members are eligible for 40% of nine months salary, and twelve-month faculty members are eligible to earn a maximum of 40% of twelve months salary.
Many faculty who are on nine-month appointments have a history of being employed during the summer from grant and contact research and/or Summer Quarter teaching. Faculty members with nine-month appointments who have normally had Summer Quarter salaries may petition for an increase in reemployment eligibility to include these additional months. A faculty member who, traditionally, has had two months' summer salary from grant and contract research, can be eligible for up to eleven months times 40% for reemployment. In such instances, the maximum permissible to be funded from instructional funds will remain 40% of nine months base, and the additional reemployment salary must be achieved from grant and contract resources.
The salary base for a retired re employed faculty member may be increased at such times as the President authorizes across the board salary increases for all faculty. Reemployed retired faculty are not eligible for merit salary increases.
The University extends the five-year reemployment option to retired faculty members without tenure for reasons of funding, and to research faculty members. While the same reemployment opportunity applies, funding for reemployment must be supported by grant and contract research funds or clinical fees. For retired lecturers, senior lecturers and principal lecturers up to the 40% reemployment may be granted on a year-to-year basis at the discretion of the Department Chair/Director and Dean/Chancellor.
Arrangements for instructional, research, or other designated duties of reemployed retired faculty members are to be made by agreement between the Department Chair/Program Director or Dean/Chancellor of undepartmentalized College, and retiring faculty member. Decisions about teaching load and their equivalent percentages of support are made at the local level, taking into account traditional teaching loads within the particular units. Departments/Programs, Schools/Colleges/Campuses, and the University cannot guarantee that the reemployment assignments specifically requested by the faculty member will be that which is offered. All efforts are made to accommodate a retiree's desires for class scheduling, but the needs of programs and curricula take precedent over individual requests. Nonetheless, by vesting the reemployment commitment in retired tenured faculty, the University commits to honor, in some scheduled way, the total reemployment opportunity for each year.
Reemployment salary must be paid in the quarter in which faculty members are teaching or performing their research activities. The faculty member teaching full-time in one quarter could receive full-time pay during that quarter, which is the equivalent of 33.3% of a nine-month appointment. The faculty member performing other services in another quarter could receive the remaining portion in that quarter, if they are engaged in agreed-upon duties. Faculty desiring to receive the full 40% reemployment would need to be working in at least two quarters of the year.
If the reemployment is to be funded from state appropriations, those duties must be for classroom teaching.
Faculty members may be reemployed beyond the five-year period, but such reemployment still remains limited to a maximum of 40% time; is at the discretion of the Department/Program and School/College/Campus; and must be supported by the reemploying unit, or from research grant and contract resources.
The normal rules related to faculty appointments apply during the reemployment period. Faculty members are expected to maintain excellence in teaching, and the University retains the right to discontinue reemployment on evidence of diminished capacity or ineffectiveness in teaching. In addition, reemployment can be voided if the reemploying program is eliminated, or in the event of a financial exigency.
A faculty member need not elect reemployment in every year of the five-year reemployment period, but skipping a year does not extend the five-year period. Faculty are asked to notify their Department Chair/Program Director (or Dean/Chancellor in an undepartmentalized School, College or campus) by December 1 of the preceding year of their election to be reemployed to ensure they are planned into the curriculum.
The Partial Reemployment Policy offers a unique opportunity for individual and institutional renewal. It essentially provides eligible faculty with the option of retiring their position and continuing to teach a reduced workload. The net benefit to the School/College/Campus or Department/Program is in simultaneously retaining a core of seasoned and committed senior faculty for classroom teaching, while providing for the introduction of new faculty who constitute our future strength and excellence.