Working After Retirement
Thinking about working after retirement? Here's some things you need to know before you punch back in.
Waiting Period & Prearrangements
You Have a Waiting Period
Kansas law requires a 60-day waiting period (180-day if retiring before age 62) for KPERS retirees who return to work for Retirement System employers. This also includes returning to a position covered by the Kansas Board of Regents Mandatory Retirement Plan. KP&F retirees have a 30-day waiting period.
Your waiting period begins the day after your retirement date. Not the last day at your employer or your last day on payroll. Your retirement date is always the first day of a month.
No Prearrangements
Before retirement and during your waiting period, you can’t have a prearranged agreement to return to work. Not allowing prearrangements is very important to KPERS. It helps keep our eligible status with the IRS.
If you are found to have a prearrangement to return to work, your retirement benefit will be suspended. This would start the month you return to work and end 6 months after you quit working.
If You're a KPERS Member
There is no earnings limit if you go back to work for a KPERS employer. Please keep in mind, you won't make KPERS contributions or earn more KPERS service. But your employer will make working-after-retirement contributions to KPERS if you're in a covered position.
These rules apply to KPERS retirees who go back to work in the same retirement plan. If you return to a covered position in KP&F or Judges, you’ll be enrolled as a regular, active member of that plan.
If You're a KP&F Member
You'll have a $25,000 earnings limit. But only if you go to work in a KP&F position for an employer you worked for during your last two years of KP&F employment. The earnings limit runs on the calendar year (January 1 to December 31).
How the Limit Works
- Stop working for the rest of the calendar year. You'll still get your retirement benefit.
- Keep working. But your retirement benefit will stop for the rest of the calendar year. Your benefit will start again in January or if you stop working. Whichever happens first.