he short answer is no. You have the right to apply for your job back within one year of retirement but you don’t have the right to be rehired. There are other points on this topic I wish to make:

First, when a member retires from the department on a service or vested retirement he can apply to be reinstated within one year of his or her retirement date. To do so one only needs to write a letter to the police commissioner requesting reinstatement. Upon receiving the letter, the NYPD’s Employee Management Division will schedule the member for a background check and medical exam.

One may assume that all retirees will pass the background check but passing the medical is another story. It’s the same medical that a candidate must pass to be appointed a police officer in the first place. That you passed the exam in your twenties doesn’t mean you’ll pass it in your forties. I saw this first hand when I was a captain in charge of a unit in the late 1980s. At that time a sergeant who had worked for me retired after 20 years and went to work for Donald Trump. After about six months he contacted me and told me that his new job wasn’t what he had expected and that he wanted to return to the NYPD. He added that he wanted to come back to his old command.

I then submitted a report through channels praising the retiree as an asset to the command and stating my desire to have him back in my unit. I made a few phone calls on his behalf and believed all would be taken care of. About two months later, the retired sergeant called and told me he wouldn’t be coming back. I remember asking if Trump had offered a better position. He said no and told me that he had failed the medical due to his hearing.

Secondly, although you have a year from your retirement date to request reinstatement, the process doesn’t happen overnight. The background check and medical usually take several months. And if you are rehired within one year of your retirement date, you’ll be paid at the current rate for your rank. But if you’re rehired on a date over one year from your retirement, you’ll come back at starting salary for the rank you retired from.

For example: A police officer retires on July 1, 2009, and then writes a letter requesting reinstatement on May 1, 2010. If he or she is rehired after July 1, 2010, the member comes back at the starting salary of a police officer and must complete 5 1/2 years before again reaching top pay. Obviously no one wants a situation like that, so I suggest that if you are contemplating coming back, write the letter to the commissioner at least six months before your first year of retirement is up.

To sum up: You have the right to apply for your job back but no right to be rehired. For the first time in recent history, retirements are down. These are tough economic times.

As Assistant Commissioner Arnold S. Wechsler of the department’s Employee Management Division has said, “At any point in time the city can institute a hiring freeze and that would end any hope for a member to be reinstated.”

I recommend that all members contemplating retirement with the intention of starting a second career secure the new employment before putting his or her papers in. Remember, it’s easier to get a job when you already have one.

PBA Pension Consultant Joseph Maccone will answer your retirement and pension questions in print. Write or email at the PBA, 40 Fulton St., NY, NY 10038, or jmaccone@nycpba.org.