Colleagues,
Since Wednesday’s email about our Retirement Incentive proposal, we received a substantial number of questions and requests for clarification. Here are the most frequently asked questions:
– When will we know whether the District will actually offer a Retirement Incentive? We do not yet have any response or counter-proposal from the District. We hope to have some indication next week or the following week.
– If the Retirement Incentive is offered, by when would I have to retire? Prior to Labor Day (September 2, 2019). Other details, such as the deadline for giving notice of retirement, would be stipulated if and when the Retirement Incentive is actually offered.
– If I submit, or already have submitted, a notice of retirement, can I rescind it at any time? No. A notice of retirement can be rescinded before the Board of Education formally acts to accept it. After that, the Board of Education could but does not have to accommodate a request to rescind.
– What if I want to retire only because of the Retirement Incentive? If you are not certain that you want to retire even without a Retirement Incentive, the safer choice would be to not submit your retirement notice yet or, if you already have, to rescind it as soon as possible and submit the notice only after a Retirement Incentive is actually offered. While we do not expect that the Board of Education would act on these notices prior to their next scheduled meeting (March 14), we cannot guarantee that they won’t.
To reiterate, only submit your notice of retirement by today if you are certain that you want to retire even without a Retirement Incentive. This will ensure that you’ll qualify for payment for whatever number of days you have through the Absenteeism Reduction Plan (Section 60 of our collective Bargaining Agreement). But if you’re considering retirement only if the Retirement Incentive is offered, you should not submit a notice of retirement yet. Instead, wait until you know that it is actually offered and until you learn what would be the exact details of such a potential offer.
Please call us at the RTA if you have additional questions or need further advice.
Adam Urbanski, RTA President