Notice to Retire

[eDAD]

New Jersey

I am considering retirement in 15 - 16 months. I am a manager, 58 years of age with 35+ years of service. Is there any benefit to submit my "intentions" to retire 12 months prior vs 6 months? I am concerned with possible loss of employment and would like to know if a notice of intention would provide any protection.

If I would decide to work longer is there any problem reversing my intention to retire?

 

[cbg]

I cannot see any benefit to announcing your plans to retire any sooner than you have to. It would not provide you with any job protection; "employees who are going to retire in the next two years" are not a group protected by law. After 35 years of service any pension is already vested so that wouldn't be affected, and that would be about the only protection you might have had (an employer can't lay you off for the purpose of preventing you from vesting or incurring a benefit, but since you're already vested that wouldn't apply here).

An employer could conceivably hold you to any announcement to retire, so if you think there's a chance you might change your mind, don't say anything now.

 

[pattytx]

I agree with cbg. Even at my last job, with was with a large city, they only required 30 days' notice. I'd wait. There's no advantage to you to do so now, and there may be some disadvantages, such as "thank you very much, you can leave now".

 

[Andy0192]

Just as an example:

The company I work for now hired me to replace a man who had announced his intention to retire in 6 months. He was a long-time employee with a good history with the company, and the company appreciated his notice, and began a search for someone to replace him.

I was hired while he still had about 3 months to go, and he graciously helped to train me and ease me into the new job, and transitioned most of his customer base over to me.

However, with a little less than a month to go, his wife had a medical problem that caused his retirement plans to go on hold, and suddenly, he was looking for a way to undo most of what he'd already started. Lucky for him, his track record with the company, as well as my appreciation for what he'd done to help train me and transition his existing accounts over put everyone in a good mood for helping him out. Also, his wife's medical problem wasn't as severe as they first thought it might be.

Long story short, the two of us ended up sharing accounts for a period of about 5 months, and he ended up making half what he normally would have.

If anyone of us had been less understanding, or more greedy, or his wife's problem had taken a turn for the worse, things could have gotten ugly in a hurry.

So in this example, things turned out OK, but I think it's easy to see that you just can't anticipate the future, so play it close to the vest if you can.

-Andy

 

[eDAD]

Thank you for your input it is appreciated. Please advise if your advice is based on NJ law or your own experiences. Are there any laws concerning this issue?

 

[eerelations]

There are no laws dictating how much departure notice an employee must give. You could, conceivably (and legally), announce your reitrement to your employer five minutes after COB on your last day of work.

However this would be very unprofessional, and would totally screw your chances of a good reference from this employer should you ever want to work again. So providing some notice is a good idea, even though it's not legally required.

Providing too much notice (such as six months) is not such a good idea because your employer may legally fire you before the six months is up. While many responsible employers won't do this, many irresponsible employers will - and sometimes there's no way of knowing in which category your employer falls until you do something like provide six months' notice of departure.

The responders here have been advising you based on experience, not law, because, as I said previously, there aren't any laws governing the amount of notice departing employees must provide. This is a decision you must make yourself.

 

[eDAD]

Thank you for all your input. I will definitely wait and give an appropriate notice. I am sure my employer will not be provoked to take any action. I was interested to know if there was any legal advantage in making a longer notice.