Employers in the School and Denver Public Schools (DPS) Divisions, or at Institutions of Higher Education may designate up to 10 retirees who are permitted to work up to 140 days or 916  hours per calendar year without a reduction in their benefits. Charter schools of a public school district, including DPS, must coordinate the designation of any retirees allowed to work under the 140-day/916-hour limit with the chartering school district.

Designations are made on a calendar year (not academic year) basis, and all designations must be made in the calendar year in which they are applicable. You may not make substitutions. Once a retiree has been designated, the designation is irrevocable. If a designated retiree leaves employment, another retiree cannot replace the designated retiree.

Rural school districts, as defined by the Colorado Department of Education, may also designate retirees working in eligible positions as Critical Shortage Retirees, thereby exempting the retiree from the Colorado PERA working after retirement limits. Eligible positions include teachers, food service workers, bus drivers, paraprofessionals, and school nurses.

Designations are made on a calendar year (not academic year) basis, and all designations must be made in the calendar year in which they are applicable. For more information, please refer to the Critical Shortage Provision Summary  fact sheet.

In order for the designation(s) to be valid, you must provide the most recent version of the Designation of Retirees Working After Retirement Under the 140-Day/916 Hour Limit form or the Designation of Retirees Working After Retirement in a Critical Shortage Position form to PERA. If the designation you are making is for a newly hired employee (outside the initial March 31 group), that designation needs to be submitted within 30 days of the date of hire to be considered timely. You may submit your form one of the following ways:

• By mail
• By fax
• Electronically through STARS
• Electronically upload the form through the Compliance File Transfer tool or Issue Tracker tool (if you are not familiar with these tools, please contact your Employer Representative)

We strongly encourage you to submit your designation(s) electronically because it will provide you with electronic verification that PERA has received the form.  This notification can be helpful if there is a question about whether a valid designation has occurred.

As a reminder, effective January 1, 2020, the PERA Board approved a Rule change that sets the designation deadline as March 31 of the applicable calendar year for all retirees who were employed by the designating employer the prior calendar year, regardless of prior designation status. PERA will not accept designations beyond the March 31 submission deadline unless it is an individual designation for a retiree who has a recent hire date. Designations for newly hired employees must be received by PERA within 30 days of their date of hire.

For questions regarding the designation process and deadline, please contact PERA’s Data Research Team at 303-863-3737 or at  bsddataresearchmb@copera.org.