Assembly Bill 138 proposes amendments to the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) regarding the rehiring of certain annuitants, specifically jailers and protective occupation participants. Under current law, individuals receiving a retirement or disability annuity from the WRS must suspend their annuity if they are rehired by a participating employer. This bill introduces an exception to that rule, allowing annuitants who retired without a prior agreement to return to work and who choose not to become participating employees upon rehire to continue receiving their annuity. The bill also clarifies that county jailers who opt out of protective occupation status will be treated similarly to those who do not opt out.

The bill amends several sections of the statutes, specifically 40.22 and 40.26, to incorporate this new exception. It adds a new subsection, 40.26 (7), which outlines the conditions under which a participant can apply for an annuity or lump sum payment after a specified period of time following their termination of employment. The amendments aim to provide more flexibility for certain retired employees while ensuring that they do not have an agreement to return to work at the time of their retirement.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text: 40.22(1), 40.22, 40.22(2m)(intro.), 40.22(2r)(intro.), 40.22(3)(intro.)