Early retirement incentive offered to 300 employeesJuly 25, 2010 KALAMAZOO--Following the state's recently passed early retirement legislation for public school employees, Western Michigan University has come up with its own voluntary retirement incentive plan. Seventy-one of nearly 300 eligible employees opted to accept the state plan. An additional 300 are eligible for WMU's retirement incentive, which was approved by the Board of Trustees at its meeting July 23. The WMU retirement incentive is 1 percent of an employee's current annual benefits base rate multiplied by the number of complete years of service. The incentive payment will be at least $10,000 and no more than $40,000, and the employee must apply by Aug. 31, 2010. Employees must meet WMU's retirement eligibility criteria, be a regular, continuing, full-time employee—Grade 10-22 in the WMU Staff Compensation System—and may not be participating in the state's early retirement program. Vacated positions would either not be filled or a replacement would be hired at a lower wage to generate cost savings over time. Complete details of WMU's Voluntary Retirement Incentive Plan are available on the Human Resources website at wmich.edu/hr/vrip. Media contact: Cheryl Roland, (269) 387-8400, cheryl.roland@wmich.edu WMU News |