Retirement Allowance Prior to issuing notice of layoff pursuant to article 9.08(a)(ii) in any classification(s), the Hospital will offer early-retirement allowance to a sufficient number of employees eligible for early retirement under HOOPP within the classification(s) in order of seniority, to the extent that the maximum number of employees within a classification who elect early retirement is equivalent to the number of employees within the classification(s) who would otherwise receive notice of layoff under article 9.08(a)(ii). An employee who elects an early retirement option shall receive, following completion of the last day of work, a retirement allowance of two weeks' salary for each year of service, plus a prorated amount for any additional partial year of service, to a maximum ceiling of 26 weeks' salary, and, in addition, full-time employees shall receive a single lump-sum payment equivalent to $1,000 for each year less than age 65 to a maximum of $5,000 upon retirement."