The University and the PSC entered into an agreement on April 26, 2013, implementing a three-year pilot program of Voluntary Phased Retirement effective from the 2013-2014 academic year through the 2015-2016 academic year and subsequently agreed to make the program permanent. The provisions relating to Phased Retirement are set forth in Appendix K.
The Program is available to tenured faculty, including Librarians and Counselors;17 Lecturers with a Certificate of Continuous Employment (“CCE”); employees in Higher Education Officer (“HEO”) series titles who hold a Certificate of Continual Administrative Service (“13.3b”); and tenured employees in the College Laboratory Technician (“CLT”) series titles. To be eligible, employees must have attained the age of 65 years and must have completed 15 or more years of full-time, continuous service as of the start of their phasing period, and must be participants in the Optional Retirement Program, TIAA-CREF, including the alternative funding vehicles MetLife and Guardian. The decision to phase is irrevocable and is contingent upon an irrevocable commitment to retire at the end of the phasing period.
An eligible employee in a faculty title may phase for one, two, or three years—beginning on the first day of a fall semester—and will have a work commitment that is 50% of the contractual full-time workload for his/her title (50% of the teaching load and 50% of other professional responsibilities). A faculty member may specify either a) a 50% phasing workload for two semesters of the academic year, or b) a 100% phasing workload for one semester of the academic year. Salary will be 50% of the full-time salary.
An eligible HEO or CLT may phase for either six (6) months or one year—beginning on the first day of a fall or spring semester—and will have a work commitment that is 80% of the full-time contractual workload for his/her title. Salary will be 80% of the full-time salary.
A faculty member may elect to take Travia Leave during the final spring semester of his/her phasing period or to be paid his/her Travia Leave in a lump sum following the phasing period. An employee in a HEO or CLT title may elect to take Travia Leave after the phasing period or to be paid Travia Leave in a lump sum at the end of the phasing period. Whether taken as leave or in a lump sum, Travia Leave will be paid at 100% of the employee’s full-time salary rate up to a maximum of one semester, for all employees (faculty, HEOs, or CLTs).
Phasing employees are entitled to the same health insurance and PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund benefits as full-time employees. For other rights and benefits during the phasing period, see Appendix K.
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17 For limitations pertaining to Department Chairs and faculty serving in predominantly administrative positions, see the April 26, 2013 side letter of agreement in Appendix K.
