Duke has temporarily suspended the Duke contribution to the Duke Faculty and Staff Retirement Plan from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. Click here to learn more.
Vesting of Duke Contribution
Vesting means ownership of the market value of your account. You are always 100% vested in your own voluntary contributions. Vesting only applies to Duke's contribution. Once you are vested, you have an irrevocable right to the amount of the Duke contribution in your account adjusted for gains or losses. Employees hired prior to January 1, 2012 are 100% vested in Duke's contribution towards their retirement. In general, employees hired January 1, 2012 or after will become 100% vested after completing three (3) years of service. Click here to learn more about vesting.
When Participation Can Begin
In general, Duke may make contributions on your behalf if you are an exempt employee (paid monthly) and you have completed one year of service and have attained age 21. Please note: Duke contribution has been suspended for 12 months and will resume on July 1, 2021.
You may be eligible to waive the one year wait for the Duke contribution if your hire date with Duke is within 90 days of your date of termination with your immediate previous employer and you were receiving fully vested employer contributions or accruals under a Code Section 403(b), 401(k), or 401(a) retirement plan maintained by the prior organization. Your immediate previous employer must be an organization as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) (examples: churches, schools, colleges/universities, hospitals, medical research organizations, some publicly supported/ community organizations) or a state educational organization as described in the Code Section 403(b)(1)(A)(ii). It is your responsibility to provide proof of participation with your previous employer's plan. Click here to learn more.
If you previously had a year of service at Duke University/Duke University Health System and you are re-hired into an eligible position, you may be eligible to receive the Duke contribution on the 1st of the month following your rehire date. In order to ensure your Duke contribution starts on time you must notify the Benefits Office in writing of your prior Duke employment.
If you have at least one year of previous employment at Duke, please provide:
- Your name and your date of birth
- Your Duke Unique ID
- Approximate time you worked at Duke (your best estimate)
- Your phone number and your e-mail address (if you have one)
This information should be sent to Duke Benefits via fax (919-681-8774) or email (benefits@duke.edu) with a subject line of: "403b Plan - Prior Duke Employment".