On Dec. 18, the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District announced, after negotiations with the Faculty Association, a plan offering a Supplemental Employee Retirement Plan (SERP) to eligible faculty. These benefits will supplement other retirement benefits that these faculty are eligible to receive and total 65% of an employee’s annual salary.
However, the district does have requirements for faculty to access these benefits, according to the announcement sent by Jennifer Druly, Vice Chancellor of Human Resources.
Faculty must be at least 55 years of age by June 30, 2026, have been employed with the district for at least 10 years consecutively by that date and retire or resign within June after submitting a letter of retirement by March 31.
These requirements will allow eligible faculty to receive their benefits years earlier than they would otherwise be able. However, there are a number of caveats that come with the early retirement offer. If the enrollment in the SERP does not meet the operational and economic goals assigned to it, the district can rescind the plan, allowing those who resigned to revoke their letters of resignation.
In an email to LPC employees, Chancellor Ron Gerhard said, “In recent meetings with leadership, SERP concepts have been discussed for all permanent employee groups, not just faculty.” A SERP being extended to other LPC employees would mean that many employees not involved in the educational processes would receive similar benefits that members of faculty are receiving. However, there are currently no dates or plans announced to discuss SERPs for these employees.
According to the announcement, the program needs a minimum of 30 faculty members enrolled. To help guide participants through the SERP, the district has created individual enrollment counseling sessions for those who are interested.
These individual counseling sessions are 45 minutes in length and are intended for those interested in the plan to ask questions, learn about the process in a one-on-one environment and learn the estimate of the SERP benefits.
The SERP has been developed over the past months, having been reviewed in November and approved by the district’s board of trustees two days prior to the announcement.
The SERP currently has a timeline that reaches all the way to August for the time being, with January through the end of March being the enrollment period and resignation period, and late April being when the final decision on if the plan will be put into effect with the first benefit payment on August 1.
The members of the faculty who are eligible to enroll may choose to remain at LPC until their ordinary retirement date will not be eligible for the plan unless in the coming years more similar plans are initiated for those who were not eligible for the 2025-2026 SERP requirements.
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Musa Ashraf is the Arts & Entertainment Editor for the Express. Follow him on X, @MusaZash.
