April 1, 2020

On March 30, 2020 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued Executive Order 20-88, one of many orders the Governor has issued in the past few weeks in response to the coronavirus pandemic.  EO 20-88 temporarily suspends the 6 and 12 month employment limitation periods for the reemployment of certain mission critical Florida Retirement System retirees by FRS employers.  Please note that EO 20-88 applies only to FRS and other state retirement systems, but not to local government pension and retirement plans.

Under current law, FRS retirees must terminate employment with all FRS employers for at least 6 months following retirement to be eligible to retain FRS retirement and DROP benefits. In addition, FRS retirees who are reemployed by an FRS employer after 6 months following retirement cannot receive both FRS retirement benefits and a salary until 12 months have passed since their retirement.  There are very limited exceptions to the FRS reemployment rules, and the penalty for violations is harsh:  the retiree must pay back all retirement and DROP benefits received.

EO 20-88 suspends and revises the FRS reemployment rules to allow FRS employers to reemploy “mission critical” retirees during the COVID-19 emergency as follows:

• FRS employees who have retired since October 1, 2019, or who may retire on or before August 1, 2020 under a state administered retirement system (i.e., FRS Pension Plan including DROP, FRS Investment Plan, State University System Optional Retirement Program, Community College System Optional Retirement Program, and Senior Management Service Optional Retirement Program), may have the 6 and 12 month employment limitation periods tolled if the reemployment or continued employment assists the COVID-19 emergency response.
• FRS employers may utilize recent retirees for emergency work without incurring liability or voiding the retirees’ retirement, but must certify to the Division of Retirement that the retirees will be providing work or services directly related to essential governmental functions in response to the COVID-19 emergency.
• EO 20-88 applies to employees in the following mission-critical categories:
• law enforcement officers;
• first responders, emergency management and public safety personnel,
• health and medical professionals; and
• other critical COVID-19 response personnel as identified and determined by a state agency head, or certified by an FRS employer as providing work or services directly related to essential governmental functions in response to the COVID-19 emergency .
• Retired employees re-entering the workforce under EO 20-88 shall not accrue retirement benefits related to the reemployment, and the reemployment shall not extend beyond August 1, 2022.
• Any person who is reemployed under EO 20-88 will not have their retirement voided or benefits suspended due to such re-employment.
• Reemployment of FRS retirees under EO 20-88 will be permitted until thirty (30) days after the expiration of EO 20-52 (the order declaring the COVID-19 emergency), or any extension thereof, not to extend beyond August 1, 2022.
• Once the reemployment ceases, the time toward completion of the 6 and 12 month reemployment limitation periods will cease to be tolled.

If you have any questions concerning any of these laws or orders, please contact Jim Linn at jlinn@llw-law.com, Glenn Thomas at gthomas@llw-law.com or Janice Rustin at jrustin@llw-law.com.