AB 18

Under current law, certain individuals who receive a retirement or disability

annuity from the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) and who are hired by an

employer that participates in the WRS must suspend that annuity and may not

receive a WRS annuity payment until the individual is no longer in a WRS-covered

position. This suspension applies to an individual who 1) has reached his or her

normal retirement date; 2) is appointed to a position with a WRS-participating

employer or provides employee services as a contractor to a WRS-participating

employer; and 3) is expected to work at least two-thirds of what is considered

full-time employment by the Department of Employee Trust Funds.

This bill creates an exception to this suspension if 1) the individual retired from

WRS-covered employment as a teacher for grades kindergarten to 12 after July 2,

2013; 2) at least 30 days have elapsed from the date the individual left WRS-covered

employment with a school district; 3) the individual is rehired as a substitute

teacher; 4) at the time the individual initially retires from a school district, the

individual does not have an agreement with any school district to return to

employment; 5) the individual elects to not become a participating employee at the

time the individual is rehired or enters into a contract after retirement; and 6) the

individual is hired between the effective date of the bill and August 1, 2026. In other

words, the bill allows a WRS teacher annuitant to return to work as a substitute

teacher with a participating employer and elect to not become a participating

employee for purposes of the WRS and instead continue to receive his or her annuity

between the effective date of the bill and August 1, 2026.