After a member has officially retired and is receiving monthly benefits, if the member performs work in any capacity for an employer under TSERS, he or she will be subject to the Return-to-Work Laws. 

These provisions may require the member to work under an earnings limitation or to reenroll as a contributing member of TSERS. The member will be subject to re-employment provisions based on the nature of the particular work he or she performs for an TSERS employer, regardless of the member’s job classification or technical employment status (which may include being assigned to work for an TSERS employer by a private company such as a temporary agency).

A six-month break from performing any work for a TSERS employer immediately following the member’s TSERS retirement date is required to avoid a financial penalty, unless the retiree meets certain statutory exceptions.

Also, an active employee may not establish an agreement for post-retirement employment with a TSERS employer.

The Required Six-Month Break Guidelines

During the six months immediately following the member’s TSERS retirement date, to avoid a financial penalty, the retiree cannot work for a TSERS employer in any capacity, except as one of the following:

• Serving as an unpaid bona fide volunteer in a local school administrative unit.
   
• Serving as an unpaid bona fide volunteer guardian ad litem in the guardian ad litem program.
   
• Serving on an authority, board, commission, committee, council, or other body of the state or of one or more counties, cities, local school administrative units, community colleges, constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina, or other political subdivisions or public corporations in the state, that is authorized to function as legislative, policymaking, quasi-judicial, administrative, or advisory body in a position that does not require membership in the retirement system.
   
• Volunteering in a position normally designated as an unpaid bona fide volunteer position.

View Return-to-Work Laws