A series of proposed bills in this year’s regular legislative session would allow state teachers to continue to collect retirement under certain circumstances after getting a new job.
House Bill 150, by Rep. Hollis Downs, R-Ruston, would allow retired teachers to be hired as adjunct professors at state universities while continuing to collect retirement.
Currently, teachers lose retirement benefits if they are hired as adjuncts, positions that pay less than full-time professorships.
The proposed law would only apply to employees collecting retirement from the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana who have at least 30 years of service or who are older than 60.
The law would require universities to publish a consistent schedule of pay for re-employed adjuncts that would be made available to TRSL.
Adjuncts could be paid more than scheduled, but excess would be taken out of their retirement benefits.
Each university would be responsible for annually reporting the names, positions and salaries of all faculty receiving both a salary and state retirement.
A similar bill would further ease barriers to teacher re-employment. HB 151, by Rep. Frank Hoffmann, R-West Monroe, would allow re-employed teachers to continue collecting TRSL checks as long as employees aren’t making more than 25 percent of individual retirement benefits.
If a teacher makes more than 25 percent of his or her retirement benefit, the benefit will be reduced to make up the difference.
The teacher would also have to be re-hired in a position eligible for TRSL funding.
A third bill, HB 369 by Rep. Gary Smith, D-St. Charles, would allow even broader leniency. Smith’s bill would allow any retired teacher receiving TRSL benefits to be re-hired for a part-time position.
Only TRSL-eligible positions would be relevant to Smith’s bill.
The law would also require employers to report employee salaries, social security numbers and part- or full-time status.
 
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Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]