TWU Prospective Retiree

RETIREMENT CHECK LIST 

Retiree Insurance Eligibility

Please review the eligibility rules below.

1. A participant must have ten years of service in a benefits-eligible position, including GBP (Group Benefits Program) enrollment. The GBP program, administered by ERS (Employees Retirement System of Texas), is the program you participate in at TWU as a benefits-eligible staff or faculty member.
2. In addition to the ten years of service, you must either be 65 or meet the rule of 80 when you retire to qualify for retiree insurance. The rule of 80 is calculated by adding your service years plus your age to equal 80. For example, 60 years of age plus 20 years of service equals 80.
3. Your last place of public employment must be with an agency or higher education institution participating in the GBP (independent school districts, the University of Texas, and Texas A&M do not participate in the GBP).
4. ORP (Optional Retirement Program) participants must maintain an ORP account from which they are eligible to begin drawing payments. If you withdraw or roll over your account to another at retirement, you will not be eligible for retiree insurance through the GBP. 

Qualifying Service Time: IMPORTANT

Through communication with benefits coordinators throughout the state, the TWU benefits office has learned that ISD service, UT System, or Texas A&M service will not count towards retiree insurance eligibility with ERS. Therefore, those individuals who have prior service from these agencies will need to either be age 65 with ten years of service at TWU or another *GBP participating agency or meet the rule of 80 with a GBP participating agency when they retire to qualify for retiree insurance through ERS.

Your TRS annuity is not affected by these eligibility criteria. Your annuity is calculated based on your total years of TRS service regardless of your health insurance eligibility. If you meet the rule of 80 using ISD service, UT System, or Texas A&M service, you are eligible for your annuity under TRS. The same applies to ORP participants. If you qualify to retire using UT System or Texas A&M service, you are eligible to access ORP funds upon retirement. For an estimate of your TRS annuity, contact TRS at 1-800-223-8778 or log onto your MYTRS account. To review your ORP accounts, you need to work directly with your ORP representative.

*GBP agencies include Texas state agencies, Texas state four-year schools, and Texas public community colleges. If you have prior service, our office can verify whether the agency is a GBP participating agency.

ERS has informed our office that ERS will not confirm insurance eligibility until a retiree insurance enrollment form is submitted. This form can be submitted within 90 days of your planned retirement date and can be rescinded. You can review all eligibility rules on the ERS website for additional information, including current rates.

Scenarios

Scenario 1: Example using employee with TWU service only

• Age 62
• 0 years of ISD service
• 18 years of TWU/GBP service
• 62+18=80
• Eligible for TRS annuity and ERS insurance.

Scenario 2: Example using employee with TWU and ISD service

• Age 58
• 2 prior ISD Service (non-GBP participating agency)
• 20 years TWU/GBP Service
• 22 total years of TRS and TWU/GBP service
• At age 58, the employee is eligible for the TRS annuity because their total years of TRS service and age have reached the rule of 80. However, the employee is not eligible for ERS insurance because the employee does not reach the rule of 80 with 20 years of TWU service.
• At age 59, the employee is eligible for the TRS annuity because their total years of TRS service and age have reached the rule of 80. The employee is also eligible for ERS insurance because they reached the rule of 80 with 59 years of age and 21 years of TWU service.
• Note: This scenario would be the same for someone with 2 years of UT or A&M service because they are also non-GBP participating agencies.

https://www.ers.texas.gov/Active-Employees/Higher-Ed-Employees    

TRS Retirement

To obtain an estimate for your TRS annuity contact TRS at 1-800-223-8778 or log into TRS at trs.texas.gov/Pages/Homepage.aspx.

Retiree Insurance Premiums

If you had fewer than 5 years of service before September 1, 2014 your insurance premium and state’s contribution will be tiered based on the number of years you participated in the state’s GBP. You must first meet eligibility rules listed above to be enrolled in the state retiree insurance program. ERS will review each retiree insurance application to determine your monthly state contribution.

• 100% state contribution for employee coverage with at least 20 years
• 75% state contribution for employee coverage with 15 years to 19 years, 11 months
• 50% state contribution for employee coverage with 10 years to 14 years, 11 months

The link below provides additional details regarding tiered retiree insurance contributions:

https://www.ers.texas.gov/Active-Employees/Retirement/Tiered-Retiree-Insurance 

ERS Presentation: Ready Set Retire 

Return To Work After Retirement 

If you are considering returning to work or are a hiring departing in the process of recruiting a TRS retiree certain rules must be considered. The hiring department is required to pay a surcharge enforced by TRS when an offer is made to a TRS retiree who retired on or after September 1, 2005. For details contact the benefits office or log onto TRS at trs.texas.gov/Pages/Homepage.aspx and search return to work.

Before making an offer the Return to Work TRS Retiree Surcharge must be completed and approved by the applicable VP and the VP of Finance and Administration.

TWU’s Service Awards and Retirement Recognition Program

To be considered a TWU Retiree and be honored at TWU’s Service Awards and Retirement Recognition Program, employees must have a minimum of 10 years of unwithdrawn State or Texas ISD service and be at least 65 years of age, OR have a minimum of 10 years of unwithdrawn State or Texas ISD service and meet Rule of 80 (age + years of service).  Please note, employees may be eligible to retire without meeting these conditions but will not be considered a TWU Retiree.  Retirees are honored only once.  Each retiree is honored at time of retirement regardless of any future return to work agreements.  Faculty members who choose to participate in the Retired Teaching Option (RTO) will be honored as a retiree BEFORE beginning RTO employment.