BackDROP & Returning to Work

What would happen if I retire and draw backdrop and later decide to return to work for the State in a benefit eligible position? I know my retirement benefit would stop but what would happen with the backdrop?

If you retire and return to work in a benefit-eligible* position, your monthly retirement payment will stop as soon as we are notified that you are re-employed. However, any BackDROP money you received is yours to keep – there is nothing that requires you to return any of it to MOSERS if you return to work. Once you have worked for at least 12 continuous months in your new benefit-eligible position, you will begin accruing a separate retirement benefit. Once you re-retire, your previous benefit will restart and your new benefit (based on your new service and salary) will be calculated and your benefit payments (old benefit plus new benefit) will resume. You are not allowed to elect BackDROP after you have first retired. In other words, you will not be eligible for BackDROP if you return to state employment after having already retired from the state.

If you retire and return to work in any position not covered by MOSERS or MPERS (including work for the state in a non-benefit-eligible position), you may continue receiving your MOSERS pension benefits and earn as much as you wish. Such employment will have no effect on your MOSERS benefit.

*A benefit-eligible position is one that normally require at least 1,040 hours of work per year, is permanent in nature, and is covered by MOSERS or the MoDOT and Patrol Employees’ Retirement System (MPERS). Your employer, not MOSERS, determines if you are working in a benefit-eligible position.