Support Staff Policies & Procedures

Retiring from the University Policy & Procedure

(Revised 11/2016)

Policy

Employees meeting the minimum retirement requirements become "official" MSU retirees upon cessation of active service. For information about the benefits in retirement, please see the Retiree Benefits Policy.

Eligibility: Regular full-time and part-time (50 - 89.9%) faculty, academic staff, executive management and University support staff in a benefits eligible position. Benefits eligible positions for faculty, academic staff and executive management are defined as 50% or greater employment for a continuous period of 9 months or longer. Benefits eligible positions for support staff are defined as regular full-time (90 - 100%) and part-time (50% - 89.9%) employment without an end date of less than 9 months.

Effective date of retirement: Retirement is optional for employees effective with the first day of the month in which they meet the minimum University retirement requirements. Retirement or termination is required the first day of the month following the 70th birthday for police officers only.

Minimum Retirement Requirements: The minimum retirement requirements specify that you may be an official MSU retiree upon attainment of one of the following:

Note: If you are in an executive-management position, contact MSU Human Resources for minimum retirement requirements.

Creditable service toward retirement: 
University faculty and staff should contact MSU Human Resources regarding computation of creditable service. The following points clarify how additional creditable service is determined in special circumstances:

• An employee who returns to the University more than 12 months after terminating may receive credit for past service after working for five continuous years in a benefits eligible position, and must apply to Human Resources to receive credit (Note: this provision has been ended in collective bargaining agreements effective in 2014 and 2015; please see applicable collective bargaining agreement for additional detail). Prior service credit will only be applied toward retirement requirements and has no impact on pension benefits, vacation accrual, longevity, etc.
• If an employee's prior service has been credited, the readjusted Retirement Calculation Date (sometimes referred to as the Retirement Eligibility Date in the MSU HR/Payroll system), will be used to determine the applicable University contribution, if any, toward health care and dental coverage (please see Retiree Benefits Policy for more detail).
• Leaves of absence will be considered continuous service and not breaks in employment.
• Breaks in employment of up to one year will be bridged. Creditable service will then go back to the prior date of employment and the prior Retirement Calculation Date.
• Employment as a student, graduate assistant, post doc and other non-benefits eligible positions does not count toward retirement eligibility.

Procedure

Application for retirement: 
Employee:

Note: Employees will receive a communication from MSU Human Resources confirming the employee's retirement date and information on their retirement benefits.

Department: Notification is sent to the employee's supervisor for support staff, and to the Chair or Dean of the college for faculty and academic staff.

Refer questions to: 
MSU Human Resources (telephone 517-353-4434 or toll free 800-353-4434, or e-mail solutionscenter@hr.msu.edu).

Revision History -

11/2/2016 - added a link to the Retiree Benefits Policy at the top of the page.

10/4/2016 - updated Eligibility information, deleted benefit policy information (and transferred to Retiree Benefits Policy), updated Creditable service information, and updated contact information

5/27/2016 - updated title

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