New regulations for rehiring retired public employees

A previous executive order (2020-265) allowed employers participating in the Kentucky Retirement System (KRS), including counties, to reemploy certain types of employees (e.g. law enforcement officers, emergency medical service personnel, etc.) during the state of emergency without filing certain paperwork with KRS prior to hiring them. It also allows employers to rehire without observing break of service times if they were already retired as of yesterday.

The new order (2020-266) expands on the previous order and allows a participating employer in KRS, including counties, to reemploy a retired member “for which a need occurs during the State of Emergency relating to COVID-19, whether through illness, injury or natural separation from service”. Read the new order HERE.

Note that federal law still requires that there not be a prearranged agreement to hire the retiree and the employer will have to certify the same to the retirement system within 30 days after the expiration of the emergency.