A retiree is an employee who was enrolled and made contributions to the York Pension Plan during their active employment at the University. Upon meeting retirement criteria (after age 55), they have elected to retire from their career at York University. A retiree may return post-retirement for a limited period as an active employee either on a contract or casual basis. However, they will still be considered a retiree.

Staff retirees, especially long-term staff retirees, may participate in the York University Retirement Association (YURA). There is a possibility to have a new yorku.ca email address given to them to maintain communication. It will be different from their original York email address.

Faculty retirees may return to the University to teach part-time post-retirement as either a YUFA Retiree or member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 3903 Unit 2 or CUPE Exempt. Once retired, they will retain that persona indefinitely, regardless of any additional contracts with the University.

For example, faculty members generally publish documents under their professorial role at York University. It may be under their administrative appointment role, but generally under the professorial role at York. They will have a yorku.ca email address which they will use to publish documents. Human Resources (HR) allows them to maintain their yorku.ca email address even after they retire.

Pension and Benefits manage three different groups of retirees.

1. Employees who are retired from York University and were managed by Human Capital Management (HCM) would have a payroll status of 'R' on their primary employment record.
2. Retired employees who were managed prior to HCM being implemented at the University. However, they are still being managed within the pension application.
3. Employees who terminated but left money in the pension plan (deferred retirees).