Okla. Stat. tit. 70, § 70-17-116.10

This is the official text of Okla. Stat. tit. 70, § 70-17-116.10, part of Oklahoma’s Stat. tit. 70, — part of the compiled statutory law of Oklahoma, published by the state as "Stat. tit. 70,." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Postretirement employment - Eligibility for

Official statutory text

continued benefits.

A. Subject to the requirements of Section 6-101.2 of this title

and any other applicable requirements of law, a member may enter

into postretirement employment with a public school of Oklahoma and

still receive monthly retirement benefits subject to the following

limitations:

1. A retired member is not eligible to be employed by the

public schools of Oklahoma, in any capacity, for sixty (60) calendar

days between the retiree’s last day of preretirement public

education employment and any postretirement public education

employment. For purposes of this section, the term “last day of

preretirement employment” shall mean the last day the employee is

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 70. Schools Page 793

required to be physically present on the job to complete the terms

of the employment contract or agreement or the member’s effective

retirement date, whichever is later. An employee on paid leave is

still considered to be employed for purposes of this section.

Employment under any conditions during this time, volunteer services

for the purpose of obtaining a paid position at a later date, or

payment at a later time for services performed during this time

period shall cause the forfeiture of all retirement benefits

received during the period;

2. For thirty-six (36) months following a member’s effective

retirement date, the retired member shall be subject to earnings

limitations on allowable earnings. Earnings limits are determined

annually based on a calendar year. For retired members under the

age of sixty-two (62) years, allowed earnings from the public

schools of Oklahoma for employment for the performance of duties

ordinarily performed by classified or nonclassified optional

personnel shall be limited to one-half (1/2) of the member’s final

average salary used in computing retirement benefits or the earnings

limit allowed by the Social Security Administration for those under

Social Security’s normal retirement age, whichever is less. For

retired members sixty-two (62) years of age or older, allowed

earnings from the public schools of Oklahoma for the performance of

duties ordinarily performed by classified or nonclassified personnel

shall be limited to Thirty Thousand Dollars ($30,000.00) or one-half

(1/2) of the member’s final average salary used in computing

retirement benefits, whichever is less. For purposes of this

paragraph, the following shall apply:

a. earnings shall mean regular annual compensation as

defined in paragraph 23 of Section 17-101 of this

title, and shall include any payment by a public

school for services rendered by a retired member who

is employed for any purpose whatsoever. Supplemental

retirement payments paid by a former public school

employer pursuant to subsection N of Section 17-105 of

this title or other state law shall not be considered

as earnings,

b. the earnings limit for the calendar year in which a

member retires shall be one-twelfth (1/12) of the

annual limit multiplied by the number of months the

member is eligible to work and receive payments from

the public schools of Oklahoma, and

c. earnings in excess of the maximum limit on allowed

earnings from public schools of Oklahoma shall result

in a loss of retirement benefits of One Dollar ($1.00)

for each One Dollar ($1.00) earned over the maximum

allowed earnings amount;

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 70. Schools Page 794

3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2 of this subsection, for a period

of three (3) years beginning July 1, 2017, members who have retired

as of July 1, 2017, as active classroom teachers, who have been

retired and receiving a benefit for at least one (1) year, and who

have not been employed by any public school during that one-year

period, shall be eligible to be reemployed as an active classroom

teacher in common or career tech school districts, with no

limitations on earnings. For a period of three (3) years beginning
etired

as of July 1, 2017, as active classroom teachers, who have been

retired and receiving a benefit for at least one (1) year, and who

have not been employed by any public school during that one-year

period, shall be eligible to be reemployed as an active classroom

teacher in common or career tech school districts, with no

limitations on earnings. For a period of three (3) years beginning

July 1, 2021, members who have retired as of July 1, 2020, who have

been retired and receiving a benefit for at least one (1) year, and

who have not been employed by any public school during that one-year

period, shall be eligible to be reemployed as an active classroom

teacher in common or career tech school districts, with no

limitations on earnings. The one-year period starts with the

retiree’s last day of preretirement public education employment.

Members returning under this section shall not be subject to any

earnings limitations following the end of the three-year periods

described in this paragraph. Members returning under this section

shall only be employed pursuant to a temporary contract; and

4. A member shall be considered to be employed by a school

district to perform the duties ordinarily performed by classified or

nonclassified optional personnel if the member is hired by the

school district in the member’s individual capacity to perform the

duties or if the member performs the duties through employment with

a proprietorship, partnership, corporation, limited liability

company or partnership, or any other business structure that has

agreed or contracted to provide the services to the school district.

B. A public school district that employs a retired member shall

be required to make contributions to the System for the retired

member in an amount as required in Section 17-108.1 and in paragraph

3 of subsection B of Section 17-116.2 of this title.

C. For purposes of this section, postretirement employment of

less than one thousand (1,000) hours per year with the Governor, the

Oklahoma State Senate, the Oklahoma House of Representatives or the

Legislative Service Bureau shall not be considered as postretirement

employment with a public school of Oklahoma.

D. The Board of Trustees of the Teachers’ Retirement System of

Oklahoma shall promulgate such rules as are necessary to implement

the provisions of this section.

E. A member who has entered into postretirement employment with

a participating employer of the Teachers’ Retirement System of

Oklahoma must fully comply with all the provisions of the rules

promulgated by the Board of Trustees pursuant to this section in

order to continue receiving the member’s monthly retirement benefit.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.