FROM: Colin Bishop, Chief of Member Services
SUBJECT: Returning Retiree Certification: Sandra Harmsen
RECOMMENDATION:
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Approve the request to extend re-employment of Sandra Harmsen as Director of the San Bernardino County Workforce Development Department (WDD), from March 28, 2020 to March 27, 2021, because an extreme necessity exists to continue the retiree's employment beyond the 18-month limit, and thus the standards of SBCERA Board Benefits Policy No. 032: "Retirees Returning to Work," have been met.
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BACKGROUND:
Ms. Harmsen retired on September 17, 2016 as Director of Workforce Development, and was initially re-employed as a returning retiree for three years from September 27, 2016 through September 27, 2019 as a Contract Project Executive for WDD. Although her re-employment ended over five months ago, circumstances which could not have been anticipated have caused the department to make another request to re-employ Ms. Harmsen for an additional one-year period from March 28, 2020 through March 27, 2021.
Her initial post-retirement employment began after the implementation of the California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA), which placed additional restrictions on retirees returning to work. In April 2018, the Board approved an updated version of its policy on "Retirees Returning to Work," which changed some of the processes for reviewing and permitting extensions for the re-employment of retirees, notably adding a provision for Board approval when the period of employment was either not specified or greater than 18 months. Accordingly, in August 2018, Ms. Harmsen's employer filed for an extension for her to continue working until September 2019, and the SBCERA Board of Retirement granted the extension.
During Ms. Harmsen's initial period of re-employment, one of her duties was training and mentoring new leaders within WDD, and on December 3, 2018, WDD hired an Assistant Director to provide administrative oversight...
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