Report Title:

Public Retirees

 

Description:

Authorizes the State and the counties to rehire governmental retirees under civil service procedures and without additional pension benefits.

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1162

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT


 

 

RELATING TO THE REHIRING OF RETIREES.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


SECTION 1.  The legislature recognizes the changing demographics of the workforce; that in fact, the workforce is aging with an increasing number of state and county employees becoming eligible to retire with full retirement benefits.  The legislature also recognizes that life spans have increased, not only because of advances in medicine and technology, but because people are choosing to live healthier lifestyles.

Ken Dychtwald, noted gerontologist, notes that older adults are blessed with longer, healthier lives, and are looking for a more fulfilling life (not the typical retirement) and wanting to stay longer or enter back into the workforce.  Dychtwald offers that we are in an era where people will grow old slower, live longer, and may never retire, or may retire three or more times as they start new careers, go back to school, or even raise a second or third family.

Myths associated with older workers have been found to be just myths.  Older workers do not get into more on‑the‑job accidents than other workers, they do not have higher rates of absenteeism, and their job performance does not decrease with age.

The legislature understands that with the low unemployment the State is now experiencing, state and county governments have more vacancies occurring with a dwindling number of qualified applicants.  They, especially the State, have many jobs categorized as hard‑to‑fill, or as being in a labor‑shortage category.

While retired state and county employees are now permitted to work for temporary periods of eighty‑nine consecutive days or for less than twenty hours per week without jeopardizing their retirement benefits, there is no reason not to afford the state and county governments the ability to hire retired state and county government employees on a full‑time basis, considering too that if they do not work for government, they will instead, work for the private sector.  This Act will allow the state and county employers to recruit from the same group of qualified applicants as do private employers and give the government employers equal footing with the private sector employer in employing state and county retirees.

The legislature believes this Act will strike a balance between the state and county government's need to hire skilled and qualified employees and retired state and county government employees' desire to continue to work for state or county government.  This Act will allow retired state and county government employees to again work for the state or county governments without incurring any negative retirement consequences, such as the forfeiture of retirement benefits already earned and being collected by employees.

SECTION 2.  Chapter 88, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§88‑     Re‑employment of state and county retirees.  (a)  Appointing authorities in the state and county government's executive branches may employ retired state and county government employees who are receiving employees' retirement system benefits.  Newly hired retirees for civil service positions, shall be recruited and selected under normal civil service procedures.  The director of human resources development, for employees hired by the State, or the respective chief human resources management executive for the county, for employees hired by a county, shall certify the hiring of the retiree as having been done pursuant to civil service laws.

(b)  Notwithstanding any section of this chapter or statute to the contrary, retired state and county government employees who are hired by the State or any of the counties shall not earn retirement service credit, contribute to the retirement system, or gain additional retirement system benefits as a result of their subsequent employment with the State or a county and the employed retiree shall continue to receive the employee's entitled normal retirement benefits without penalty.

(c)  This section shall not preclude a retiree from returning to work and relinquishing the employee's retirement benefits so that the employee may once again earn service credits and gain additional retirement benefits for a future retirement date as may be allowed by this chapter."

     SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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