AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- TEACHERS' RETIREMENT .

Retired educators work longer without pension credits

Beginning June 21, 2024, Rhode Island allows retired teachers, administrators, and staff to work beyond the 90-day retirement work limit. The law extends this exception’s sunset from June 20, 2025, to July 1, 2026, unless lawmakers extend it again. The local education authority must identify a specialized temporary staffing need, and retirees must have the needed skills, training, and knowledge. The authority must notify the state retirement board that exceeding 90 days is necessary to address staffing shortages. Each school year, employers must first make a good-faith, unsuccessful effort to hire a nonretired worker. They must certify that effort in writing to the retirement system and bargaining agents for all their education unions. Retirees earn no added pension service credit and make no pension contributions for this work. The employer must pay the pension contribution required for a newly hired teacher, administrator, or staff member.