[Second Reprint]

SENATE, No. 3685

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

219th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED APRIL 26, 2021

 

 

Sponsored by:

Senator  M. TERESA RUIZ

District 29 (Essex)

Senator  RICHARD J. CODEY

District 27 (Essex and Morris)

Assemblywoman  MILA M. JASEY

District 27 (Essex and Morris)

Assemblywoman  PAMELA R. LAMPITT

District 6 (Burlington and Camden)

Assemblyman  RAJ MUKHERJI

District 33 (Hudson)

 

Co-Sponsored by:

Senators Diegnan, Pou, Gill, O'Scanlon and Assemblyman Verrelli

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Permits teacher and professional staff member who provides special services retired from TPAF to return to employment for up to two years without reenrollment in TPAF if employment commences during 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As reported by the Assembly Education Committee on January 3, 2022, with amendments.

  


An Act concerning a return to employment by a 1[school]1 teacher 1or a professional staff member who provides special services1 during the 1[public health emergency and]1 2[state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic] 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years2 after retirement from the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    2a.2  Notwithstanding the provisions of N.J.S.18A:66-53.2 to the contrary, the cancellation, reenrollment, and additional retirement allowance provisions of subsection a. of N.J.S.18A:66-53.2 shall not apply to a former member of the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund who is a 1[certificated]1 teacher 1or who is a professional staff member providing special services, including but not limited to a speech language specialist or a therapist,1 and who, after having been granted a retirement allowance, becomes employed by a board of education in a position of critical need as determined by the State Commissioner of Education on a contractual basis for a term of not more than one year; except that the cancellation, reenrollment, and additional retirement allowance provisions shall apply if the former member becomes employed within 180 days with the employer from which the member retired.  Nothing herein shall preclude a former member so reemployed with a board of education from renewing a contract for one additional year; provided that the total period of employment with any individual board of education does not exceed a two-year period, unless so approved by the Commissioner of Education as being in the best interests of the school district; and provided that no such renewal shall provide the former member an election regarding whether or not to be reenrolled.

     The former member’s retirement shall have been a bona fide retirement and any employment or reemployment under this section shall not be prearranged before retirement.

     2b.  A school district of a board of education in a position of critical need, as determined by the Commissioner of Education, seeking to reemploy a former member pursuant to the provisions of subsection a. of this section shall demonstrate to the board of education the need for reemploying such members prior to reemployment by the board of education.2

     This section shall apply only with regard to a 1[certificated]1 teacher 1or a professional staff member who provides special services1 whose reemployment with any board of 2[election] education2 commences during the 1[public health emergency and]1 2[state of emergency declared by the Governor]2 1[in Executive Order No. 103]1 2[for the COVID-19 pandemic] remainder of the 2021-2022 school year and the entirety of the 2022-2023 school year2 1[and during any extensions of that public health emergency and state of emergency]1.

 

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately.