SECTION 31.13. One-half Time Employment

(a) A retiree may be employed by a Texas public educational institution in any position, other than as a substitute, on as much as a one-half time basis without forfeiting annuity payments for the applicable months of employment. In this section, one-half time basis means no more than 92 hours in a calendar month. The total number of hours allowed for that month may be worked in any arrangement or schedule.

(b) Paid time-off, including sick leave, vacation leave, administrative leave, and compensatory time for overtime worked, is employment for purposes of this section and must be included in determining the total amount of time worked in a calendar month and reported to TRS as employment for the calendar month in which it is taken.

(c) For the purpose of this section, employment as an instructor for actual course or lab instruction with an institution of higher education (including community and junior colleges and online coursework) in classes taken by students for college credit or classes that are taken to prepare students for college level work shall be counted as a minimum of two clock hours for each clock hour of instruction or time in the classroom or lab in order to reflect instructional time as well as preparation, grading, and other time typically associated with one hour of instruction. If the employer has established a greater amount of preparation time for each hour in the classroom or lab, the employer's established standard will be used to determine the number of courses or labs a retiree may teach under the exception to loss of annuity provided by this section. The equivalent clock hours computed under this subsection must be equal to or less than the number of work hours authorized in subsection (a) of this section for the retiree to be considered as working on a one-half time basis.

(d) Employment as an instructor of continuing education, adult education, or classes offered to employers or businesses for employee training, that is not measured or expressed in terms of the number of courses; semester or course hours/credits; or instructional units or other units of time rather than clock hours and for which the students or participants do not receive college credit, must be counted based on the number of clock hours worked.

(e) A disability retiree may not be employed on as much as a one-half time basis under this section for more than 90 days in a school year. A disability retiree who works more than 90 days on as much as one-half time basis under this section shall forfeit the disability retiree's annuity for the month during which the disability retiree exceeded 90 days and in each subsequent month during the same school year that the disability retiree is employed by a Texas public educational.

(f) For the purposes of calculating the number of days worked by a disability retiree has worked during a school year under this section, working any part of a day counts as working the entire day.

Source Note: The provisions of this §31.13 adopted to be effective November 1, 2021, 46 TexReg 6940