Faculty Early Retirement Program FAQs

While participating in FERP, your post-retirement employment will be limited by both the CBA and PERS. Article 29 of the CBA limits your total CSU employment to 90 days per fiscal year or 50% of your regular timebase in the year preceding retirement.

The period of employment during each campus academic year shall be based on the needs of the department and must be approved by the Dean, and specified in an appointment letter to the participant.
FERP employment is available in two options:

• Full-time employment in the Fall or the Spring semester, not to exceed 90 workdays. Normally 12 units of instruction, plus 3 units of instructionally-related activities.
• Half-time employment for the academic year (not to exceed 50% of the employee’s time base in the year preceding retirement, full-time equivalent is 12 units of instruction and 3 units of instructionally-related activities). Normally, 6 units per semester, plus 1.5 units of instructionally-related activities. 

Note: Faculty can elect a lesser time base than stated above but cannot increase their time base throughout the five-year period.

While participating in FERP, your post-retirement employment will be limited by both the CBA and PERS. Article 29 of the CBA limits your total CSU employment to 90 days per fiscal year or 50% of your regular timebase in the year preceding retirement.

Librarian FERP employment is available in the following options:

• Full-time employment (40 hours per week) not to exceed 960 hours (in slight excess of 5 months).
• Half-time (20 hours per week) not to exceed 960 hours or approximately 11 months.
• Half-time employment in the 10-month classification with 2 months off per year.

Librarians continue to earn vacation while on FERP and are encouraged to use vacation credits during their FERP employment.

Note: Librarian faculty can elect a lesser time base than stated above but cannot increase their time base throughout the five-year period.

Yes. You could work full-time one semester. However, if you sought to work both semesters, you could only work half of the time base you were working in PRTB at the time of retirement. For example, if you were .50 in the PRTB program, you could work full-time one semester or .25 both semesters under FERP.

You may request a change in your term of employment and every effort will be made to accommodate your request. However, due to programmatic needs, the Department Chair and Dean may not be able to recommend approval of your request to the President (or designee). Whenever possible, requests for a change in the term of employment should be made at least one semester prior to the academic year in which you wish to make the change. Changes will normally become effective at the beginning of an academic year. Mid-year changes which would result in your working more than one semester in an academic year or more than half-time (50%) during both semesters in the academic year cannot be approved. For example, you could not teach full-time in the Fall semester and then change to half-time the following Spring semester.

FERP Participants may request a reduction in timebase and/or a change in their period of employment by submitting the Request for Change in FERP Period of Employment form. The completed form should be submitted to the college/unit AA/S for routing through Adobe Sign.

Yes, in mutual agreement with the Dean and Department Chair. Be advised that your reduction shall continue for the duration of your FERP appointment. You will not able to increase your FERP timebase once you have received a reduction. Your written request is required with Dean and Chair approval.

FERP Participants may request a reduction in timebase and/or a change in their period of employment by submitting the Request for Change in FERP Period of Employment form. The completed form should be submitted to the college/unit AA/S for routing through Adobe Sign.

No. Article 29.14 prohibits additional employment within the CSU or its auxiliary organizations beyond the FERP contract period.

Normally, no; however, Article 29 allows participants to take one leave without pay for documented medical reasons for all or part of the period of employment. While the leave does not affect continued participation in FERP, the year in which you took a medical leave would count as one of your five years of participation in the program.

Usually, when a faculty member retires, they have any remaining sick leave credits converted to PERS retirement service credit. You may elect to carry forward up to six (6) days, or forty-eight (48) hours, of sick leave credits into FERP. While in the program, you will earn sick leave credits on a pro rata basis for up to six days (or forty-eight hours) a year and you may accumulate a maximum of twenty (20) days of sick leave credits, or one hundred sixty (160) hours, during your participation in the program. This sick leave may not be added to your retirement service credit at the end of your FERP participation

Faculty members in the FERP program are considered tenured faculty and are expected to perform regular advising and other normal duties. When serving on a committee you have the same voting or other rights as any tenured faculty member. You are expected to provide service and participate in shared governance activities at a level commensurate with your appointment level.

You will be covered for workers’ compensation and the CSU will provide a CSU dental plan on the same basis as such a plan is provided to other faculty. The provision of such a dental plan shall require that you were enrolled in a CSU dental plan immediately prior to your service retirement. FERP faculty are eligible for vision care under the terms of a side letter to the CBA. All other available insurance benefits will be derived through your PERS retirement.

Your pay warrants will be issued as follows:

• Teaching Fall semester only: At the end of September, October, November, December, January, and February.
• Teaching Spring semester only: At the end of February, March, April, May, June, and July.
• Teaching Fall and Spring: At the end of September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, and August.

Yes, the program entitles you to employment for five years under specified conditions. After you have completed your participation in the program, you may apply for part-time teaching or short-term full-time temporary employment. Care must be taken, however, not to exceed the post-retirement restrictions imposed by CalPERS. You may also contribute to the University as volunteer faculty.

1. Regular Full-Time (Probationary or Tenured) Faculty and FERP Faculty
2. Teaching Associates, Volunteers, Administrators
3. Temporary Faculty following Article 12.29

Like all faculty employees, you still can be dismissed for cause, or terminated for failure to meet the employment commitment. As a FERP faculty, you would still be a tenured faculty member and a member of the collective bargaining unit with all the rights and protections thereto.