Until June 30, 2026, this bill authorizes a retired member of the Tennessee consolidated retirement system or of a superseded system, or of a local retirement fund to be reemployed in a position covered by the retirement system without the loss or suspension of the retired member's retirement benefits if the following criteria is met:
(1) The retired member (i) served as a law enforcement officer contributing to the retired member's respective retirement system for at least 30 years and (ii) is reemployed as a law enforcement officer with a law enforcement agency for the sole purpose of serving full time as either a school resource officer at a public school in this state that serves students in any of the grades K-12 or as a police officer on the campus of an institution governed by the Tennessee board of regents;
(2) The retired member is not reemployed until the expiration of at least 60 calendar days from the member's effective date of retirement;
(3) During each annual reemployment period commencing on or after July 1, 2024, the entire compensation payable to the retired member for the work performed by the retired member is 100 percent of the rate of compensation set by the law enforcement agency for (i) school resource officers with comparable training and years of experience filling similar positions, if the member is reemployed to serve full time as a school resource officer for a K-12 public school; or (ii) police officers with comparable training and years of experience filling similar positions, if the member is reemployed to serve full time as a police officer on the campus of an institution governed by the Tennessee board of regents;
(4) The retired member's reemployment must not exceed one year. However, the retired member may be reemployed for additional one-year periods if the other conditions in this list are met for each period of reemployment;
(5) To fund the liability created by this bill, the retired member's new employer pays to the member's respective retirement system, during each period of reemployment, a payment equal to the amount the employer would have contributed to the retirement system had the retired member been a contributing member of the retirement system during the period of reemployment;
(6) The retired member is not eligible to accrue additional retirement benefits as a result of the member's reemployment pursuant to this bill;
(7) Upon the reemployment of the retired member, the retired member's new employer (i) notifies the retirement system of the member's reemployment and provides any documents or information required by the retirement system, (ii) certifies in writing to the retirement system that the retired member has the requisite experience and training for the position to be filled and that no other qualified person is available to fill the position, and (iii) certifies in writing to the retirement system that the employer is employing one retired member to serve full time as either a school resource officer at a K-12 public school or a police officer on the campus of an institution governed by the Tennessee board of regents; and
(8) The retiree is not drawing disability retirement benefits under such retirement systems based on disability retirement.
This bill applies to reemployments occurring on or after July 1, 2024.