IU Phased Retirement Program for Faculty

Program Overview

Phased Retirement is a valuable option for faculty who want to reduce their workload and ease into retirement. The benefits of phased retirement include:

The ability to withdraw from specific retirement account funds while still working. This includes the IU Retirement Plan, the IU Tax Deferred Account (TDA) Plan, and funds held at Fidelity in the 457(b) Retirement Plan.
Continuing to work while taking a partial leave without pay.
Continuing participation in medical, dental, and other IU-sponsored benefits.
Reducing workload by 20-50 percent for a period of 12-36 months (or up to the end of the faculty member’s appointment if less than 36 months).

Resources

Eligibility

Full-time faculty members who have attained the below age and service requirements are eligible to request participation in the program:

Age	Years of IU Service
62	16
63	14
64	12
65 and over	10
The “Years of IU Service” requirement will be prorated for ages that fall between the ages that are listed in the above table.

Faculty members eligible for the program include those with the following ranks:

Tenure Track Faculty/Librarians
Lecturer
Clinical Faculty
Professor of Practice
Academic Specialist
On-Campus Health Center Physicians
Teacher
Dually employed IU and IU Health Physicians
Research Scientist/Scholar
Research Associate

Ineligible faculty members include:

Those eligible for 18/20 Retirement benefits (excludes faculty over the age of 70)
Those eligible for Replacement Retirement Plan benefits
IU Residents
Graduate Assistants
PERF members

Leave Percentage

Participants must take a partial leave without pay by reducing workload by 20-50 percent, thus changing their appointment to 50-80 percent FTE. This leave percentage may vary during the Phased Retirement period, but may be no less than 20 percent and no more than 50 percent.

Retirement Date

The Phased Retirement period may be no shorter than 12 months and no longer than 36 months, or up to the end of the faculty member’s appointment if less than 36 months.

The program requires a commitment to the retirement date that occurs at the end of the Phased Retirement period. This agreed upon retirement date is irrevocable.

IU-Sponsored Benefits

During Phased Retirement, university benefits will continue in the same manner as for any other full-time employee, including university contributions to medical and dental coverages. This means that:

Employee contributions towards IU-sponsored Medical, Dental, Supplemental Life Insurance, and Long Term Disability plans will continue to be based on annual budgeted base salary.
University contributions to the IU Retirement Plan will be based on actual salary paid.

During the period of Phased Retirement, the faculty member may withdraw funds from the retirement plans listed below:

IU Retirement Plan
457(b) Retirement Plan (for funds held at Fidelity only)
Tax Deferred Account (TDA) Plan

The employee may NOT withdraw funds from the plans listed below during the Phased Retirement period:

IU Supplemental Early Retirement Plan (SERP)
Public Employee’s Retirement Fund (PERF)
IU Retirement & Savings Plan

IU Retiree Status

Eligibility for the Phased Retirement program is separate from that of IU Retiree Status. To be eligible for IU Retiree Status, employees must meet the Retiree Status criteria.

Important Note: For Phased Retirement Program participants only, Retiree Status criteria has been modified to allow years of service to continue to accumulate and apply towards Retiree Status during the Phased Retirement period, even though only working part time.

Employment at University Affiliates

During Phased Retirement, the faculty member may not also be employed by an entity defined by the IRS as an Indiana University affiliate. For the purposes of this program, IU affiliates include the IU Foundation.