Phased Retirement
- Karla Steffen
What is phased retirement?
See HOP 2-2420: Modified Service and Phased Retirement for Faculty.
Phased retirement refers to reduced appointments in teaching, service, and/or scholarship to assist an individual in preparing for full retirement. A post-retirement contract is entered into for up to three years. A tenured faculty member who officially retires maintains a part-time (50% or 25%) term appointment without tenure until the expiration of the contract.
A phased retirement contract must be for at least one year in duration, and no longer than three years. Any changes in the contract after approval require a written request by the faculty member and approval by the Dean and Provost's Office. See tab on this page "Amending a Phased Retirement Agreement". (For post-retirement work of less than one year, a Modified Service Agreement is more appropriate, and does not require Provost approval.)
Phased Retirees will always be in an active job profile and have an active, unexpired contract in Workday until the end of their phased retirement contract, at which time they should be terminated in Workday using reason "End of assignment".
Important considerations for faculty considering phased retirement
Before beginning a Phased Retirement Agreement, the faculty member should confirm with UT Austin Benefits that they will be eligible to retire as of their planned date. Their department's Academic HR Partner should check with the faculty member to see that retirement eligibility has been confirmed, but responsibility for confirming eligibility is up to the prospective retiree.
For Benefits contact information, see HR: Find Your HR Representatives.
Entering into a contract for Phased Retirement includes voluntarily waiving any rights, claims, or causes of action that may have been held through the effective date of the contract under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) and its 1990 amendments effected by the Older Workers Benefits Protection Act (OWBPA).
The retiring faculty member has 21 days to consider the contract after it is drawn up by their department and reviewed by the Department Chair and the Budget Council or Executive Committee.
The retiring faculty member has seven days after execution of the contract during which they may revoke the contract, in writing. Absent such revocation, the contract will go into effect on the eighth day following its execution by all parties.
At the end of the contract, the faculty member will have resigned from the University and entered into full retirement.
Benefits during Phased Retirement
See HR: Benefits During Phased Retirement.
Processes
A. Submitting a request for a Phased Retirement Agreement
Initiate and obtain approvals for a Phased Retirement Agreement letter according to the steps below:
Faculty member should discuss phased retirement with department chair.
Department Administrative Manager completes Phased Retirement Agreement - COE Template.
The departmental Budget/Executive Council reviews and decides whether to approve the agreement. Vote totals are recorded.
If approved by the department Budget/Executive Council, department chair signs the agreement.
Department Administrative Manager forwards the agreement to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu. BC/EC vote totals should be included in the body of the email.
Dean's Office Faculty Affairs sends the agreement to the Chief Business Officer for non-signature approval.
If approved, Chief Business Officer returns agreement to Dean's Office Faculty Affairs.
COE Faculty Affairs forwards the agreement to the Dean for review and signature.
COE Faculty Affairs forwards the signed agreement to the Provost’s Office.
10. If approved, agreement is returned to by the Provost's Office and forwarded to the department chair and Administrative Manager and copied to the Senior Associate Dean, the Chief Business Officer, and COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu.
11. Dean's Office Faculty Affairs saves a copy of the approved agreement to the Dean's Office faculty personnel files.
B. After Phased Retirement Agreement is approved
Process Termination business process in Workday according to the Termination - Academic W.I.G. Use reason "Retirement" and the Effective Date of their last day of employment under their regular faculty position. Attach a copy of the final-approved Phased Retirement Agreement to the business process.
Reminder: For TRS retirees, a service break of at least month is required before adding a new job. For ORP retirees, no service break is necessary.
Before the retirement can be processed in Workday, faculty member must have turned in all retirement paperwork to central HR. Once HR has processed the retirement paperwork, they will make the "Retirement" code available for use for that faculty member in Workday.
See COE: Retirement - Faculty for additional information and guidance on faculty retirement.
Academic Personnel Services (APS) will process the professional track Additional Job in Workday for the period described in the Phased Retirement Agreement, based on existing costing allocations. This Phased Retirement position will be at the same rank in which the faculty member retired, but will be without tenure.
After the professional track Phased Retirement position has been final-approved, the home unit Cost Center Manager should make any needed changes to costing, such as moving the appointment to a Non-Tenure Track subaccount. The home unit is also responsible for processing any required Background Check associated with the new professional track position.
Workday error while processing retirement
Problem: While processing a termination business process in Workday with reason of "retirement," you receive the error "This termination reason is only available for employees pre-approved for retirement. Please contact your HR Benefits Specialist."
Solution: Either a) the prospective retiree has not yet submitted the necessary paperwork to central HR, or b) central HR has not yet processed their paperwork.
Contact your Benefits and Leave Specialist about paperwork status by looking them up at HR: Find Your HR Representatives.
C. When the Phased Retirement Agreement period is ending
Once the service period described in the Phase Retirement Agreement has been completed, the home unit should end the professional track job according to the termination business process.
Use Primary Reason "End Assignment," and Secondary Reason of either eligible or ineligible for Reemployment."
Upload a copy of the Phased Retirement Agreement to the BP.
D. If the faculty member has been nominated for emeritus status
If the faculty member has been nominated for emeritus status, APS will process an interim emeritus appointment for them while emeritus approval is pending, after the Phased Retirement non-tenure track position has been ended.
Amending a Phased Retirement Agreement
If the faculty member chooses to amend the Phased Retirement Agreement:
Email APS a PDF document of the amendment request initiated by the faculty member and approved by the department chair and Dean.
APS will route the PDF and create a memo to the Senior Vice Provost for approval.
Once approved by the Senior Vice Provost, the unit will receive a copy of the signed memo. This memo should be attached to the termination business process for the End of Assignment.
In Workday:
Use business process Job Change > Transfer, Promote, or Change Job
Change Effective Date
Why are you making this change? Change Job Details > Administrative > Revise FTE or End Employment Date
Change Organization Assignments - make any needed updates
Propose Compensation Change > Salary > Additional Details > Revise Actual End Date
Assign Costing Allocation for Change Job > Costing Allocation Level - select as appropriate
Maintain Employee Contract > Contract End Date > Revised Contract End Date
Process Update Academic Appointment business process to update end date.
Search for faculty member. Go to "Academic" tab in left-hand blue bar.
Review current information on "Current Appointments" tab.
Click magnifying glass icon in "Appointment" column on the row to be updated, to go to "View Academic Appointment" page.
On top line of View Academic Appointment page, "Academic Appointee", click three-dot "twinkie" to the right of the faculty member's name, and go to Academic Faculty > Update Academic Appointment.
On the first page of the Update Academic Appointment business process, "Start Date" is the effective date of the change, and should be either:
the date the amendment memo was approved by APS, if prior to the new contract end date, or
if the amendment memo was approved after the new contract end date, retroactively, use a Start Date prior to the end of the new contract end date. Example: new contract end date is 8/15/2025, APS approved amendment memo 9/2/2025, use a start date prior to 8/15 such as 8/1/2025.
Note that "Track Date" is the effective date of the faculty member's current track, i.e., the date their original Phased Retirement Agreement started. (See more info on Tracks.) This date will default in to the business process.
Reason: Update Academic Appointment > Administrative Change
End Date: new contract end date
Additional Data section - Phased Retirement Data: Add new contract end date (same as "End Date" above)
Process Termination business process with reason "End of Assignment". Upload the approved amendment memo as documentation. DO NOT skip the "Maintain Employee Contract" step.
Contracts
Contracts are required for retired faculty who are rehired as professional-track positions through a Phased Retirement Agreement. Use contract type “Faculty Phased Retirement." For more information, refer to the Maintain Non-Tenure Track Faculty Contracts - Workday Instructional Guide (WIG) and Manage Non-Tenure Track Faculty - Workday Process Overview (WPO).Â
Temporary disruption to email
Due to required integrations with various benefits systems, Phased Retirees are unable to access their email account for 24-28 hours after their regular faculty appointment ends. The phased retiree appointment will be finalized upon completion of the benefits integration.
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Please send suggested additions to this page and notifications about broken links to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu.
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