AB 138

Under current law, certain persons who receive a retirement or disability annuity from the Wisconsin Retirement System 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 employee is no longer in a WRS-covered position. This suspension applies to a person 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 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 for an annuitant who retired from employment with a participating employer and who is subsequently rehired or provides employee services after retirement if 1) at the time the annuitant initially retires from covered employment with a participating employer, the annuitant does not have an agreement with any participating employer to return to employment; 2) the annuitant elects to not become a participating employee at the time the annuitant is rehired or enters into a contract after retirement; and 3) either the annuitant retired as a protective occupation participant or the annuitant retired as a county jailer who was not a protective occupation participant under the WRS.

Under current law, a county jailer has the opportunity to opt out of becoming a protective occupation participant under the WRS. The bill treats county jailers who opt out of becoming a protective occupation participant in the same manner as county jailers who are protective occupation participants.

Because this bill relates to public employee retirement or pensions, it may be referred to the Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems for a report to be printed as an appendix to the bill.