Retirees as Volunteers
Returning to Work After a 6-Month Break for a TSERS Employer in a Position Not Eligible for TSERS Membership, Not Exceeding your Earnable Allowance Limit, and Continuing to Receive your Monthly TSERS Benefit
After the 6-month break, if you are not in violation of the return-to-work laws, you will receive your monthly TSERS retirement benefit as well as a paycheck from your new TSERS position. In order for you to continue receiving your monthly TSERS benefit, you must be reemployed on a part-time, interim, temporary, or contractual basis, or otherwise perform work for the TSERS agency on any basis that does not require membership in the TSERS, and not exceed your earnable allowance limit. You will be subject to return-to-work laws based on the nature of the particular work you perform for a participating TSERS employer, regardless of your job classification or your technical employment status (which may include being assigned work for a participating employer by a private company such as a temporary staffing agency, or working for a limited liability corporation).
Please note that temporary and interim employment positions with a TSERS employer should have set employment ending dates; otherwise, these positions may not be considered to be temporary or interim. The agency’s mere label for the position is not dispositive, as the facts may demonstrate something other than a temporary or interim position. As long as you are reemployed with a TSERS employer in a position that does not require membership in TSERS, you will not pay any contributions into the Retirement System and, as such, will not accrue any new service credit, and will not get the benefits of a “second retirement.”
Returning to Service Without a Penalty for a TSERS Employer as an Unpaid Bona Fide Volunteer, a School Board Member, or a Member of a Board of Trustees of a Community College, or of any Constituent Institution of the University of North Carolina
If you return to work at any time after retirement as a school board member, a member of a board of trustees of a community college or of any constituent institution of the University of North Carolina, or an unpaid bona fide volunteer, such work will not count for purposes of the return-to-work laws.
You may serve without affecting your TSERS retirement benefits as unpaid bona fide volunteer for a TSERS employer, performing service in a position in which any individual performing that type of service would not be paid. You will be subject to a penalty if other individuals performing that type of service are typically paid.
If you wish to volunteer a few hours a week selling concessions at an athletic game or assisting with fundraisers, among other activities, you may do so in the first 6 months following retirement. You cannot volunteer as a classroom teacher, for example, to hold a job open for the first six months after retirement, as that would violate both federal law and state statutes [G.S. § 135-1(20)] prohibiting an “intent or agreement, express or implied, to return to service.”
Volunteering is not employment; therefore, you cannot volunteer to fill a vacancy that is normally a paid position with a TSERS employer. The volunteer work must be performed without promise or expectation of compensation. If volunteering today helps you secure a paid position in the future, that is a form of compensation, and such an arrangement is not permitted.
There are some “volunteer” situations that are unclear, for example duties sometimes performed by paid employees and sometimes performed by parent or community volunteers. If you are considering volunteering in one of those roles, we strongly suggest that you provide the Retirement System with a full written description of the role you are considering so that we can provide additional guidance to you.
