OPM Issues Fact Sheet on Shutdown

"...The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released Friday a new fact sheet for federal employees in non-pay status due to the partial government shutdown.

It includes important updated information on what happens to pay and benefits...."

Read full text at My Federal Retirement

or find OPM's Printable Fact Sheet here:

Pay and Benefits Information for Employees Affected by the Lapse in Appropriations

Can I still have my 2014 and future 1099R's sent to me by mail?

"... OPM realizes this may cause a hardship to suddenly stop mailing 1099R's to those individuals who do not have a computer to access their Services on-line account.  Therefore, annuitants and survivors will still be mailed their 1099R next January for the foreseeable future.  However, for those individuals who wish to receive their 1099R’s electronically using Services On Line, they will be able to “opt-in” to receive a copy of it..."

Read more at OPM.gov

OPM Plan Unveiled to Improve Federal Retirement Operations

"...Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta announced a new strategic plan Tuesday that she said will help the agency “recruit, retain and honor a world-class federal workforce.”

While Archuleta said the “Strategic IT Plan addresses our technology needs across the agency,” the plan itself states that it is focused on “especially retirement programs and USAJobs.”

Those two areas represent the entire spectrum of federal employment, from recruitment to retirement. Recruitment and retirement also are areas in which OPM has had extensive information technology difficulties in the past..."

Read more at The Washington Post

Witnesses Speak on Federal Retirement System Issues

"...The House hearing on federal retirement services was about as fascinating as it sounds, certainly much less explosive than it could have been given some of the testimony.

In a nutshell, witnesses said that while retirement processing has improved from its worst days, it could deteriorate because of budget cuts, and that management needs to get much better at stopping improper payments and figuring out how to modernize the system..."

Read more at the Washington Post

OPM Predicts Retirement Claims Jump in January

"...The Office of Personnel Management received fewer retirement claims in November than in any month since February this year, according to new data from the agency.

But this is likely just the calm before the storm, according to OPM projections, which anticipate a wave of retirement claims in January...."

Read more at FederalNewsRadio.com

OPM's Plan to Speed up Pension Processing

"...The Office of Personnel Management is hatching a plan to digitize personnel records and automate pension calculations. That project will be included in the president’s proposed 2014 budget, which will be released in February, said OPM Director John Berry at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee hearing Wednesday. OPM has struggled for years to convert today’s paper-based system of calculating retirees’ pensions. About $100 million has been wasted over two decades on several such efforts, with virtually nothing to show for it..."

Read more at Federal Times

Help Ensure 'Healthy' Retirement Processing

"...The Office of Personnel Management recently issued guidance to agencies on how to submit “healthy” retirement packages for prospective retirees. You can keep an eye out to ensure your agency is correctly carrying out its part, which includes:..."

Read more at FederalTimes.com

Retirement Claims Backlog Slowly Shrinking

"...The government processed more federal retirement applications in June than it expected to, and the total claims backlog is down 21 percent since the beginning of the year, according to the latest statistics.

The backlog now stands at 48,323 claims, down 12,785 since January and 55 less than the total number of outstanding retirement claims in December 2011. The Office of Personnel Management, the agency responsible for processing retirement applications, completed 8,964 claims in June -- 464 more claims than it estimated it would process that month. OPM also received 186 fewer applications in June than it projected..."

Read more at GovExec.com

Federal Retirement Rates and Returns

"...In April, I wrote about a webinar I had conducted on the subject of long- and short-term planning for retirement. Following the webinar, participants posted hundreds of questions about topics I had covered. I decided that over the next two weeks, I’ll try to address some of them. So let’s get right to it..."

Read more at GovExec.com

Postal Reform Bill Amendment Would Address OPM Backlog

"...An amendment to a Senate bill restructuring the U.S. Postal Service's financial framework would institute new agency reporting requirements for retiring federal workers, anticipating a "deluge of retirees," from USPS.

Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), introduced last week an amendment to the 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012 (S. 1789), that requires the Office of Personnel Management to take new steps to chip away at a longstanding backlog of federal retirement claims.

In a floor speech Monday, Warner said his office has received hundreds of requests from federal retirees who have faced long waits and "inordinate hardship ... while their retirement paperwork moves through the system."

The amendment requires OPM to submit monthly public reports to lawmakers and the Government Accountability Office evaluating USPS retirement claims — for timeliness, completeness and accuracy — compared to other federal agencies..."

Read more at FederalNewsRadio.com

Federal Employee Guide to Reduction in Force (RIF) Benefits

"...If you are affected by reduction in force (RIF), you may have many questions about how your employee benefits will be affected. The information presented in this guide is intended to provide an overview of these benefits and entitlements. The information is general in nature and cannot cover every situation. It may not be applicable to every Federal employee..."

Read more at opm.gov

How to Calculate Your SRS Benefit

"...some employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System are scratching their heads trying to calculate a unique feature of FERS: the special retirement supplement (SRS).

The SRS approximates the Social Security benefit you earned while covered by FERS. It’s intended to supplement the FERS annuity and bridge the gap between retirement and age 62, when you’ll be eligible to receive a Social Security benefit. It ends at age 62, whether or not you apply for a Social Security benefit..."

Read more at FederalTimes.com

Buyouts and 2012 Retirement Planning

"...If you hope to retire this year with a $25,000 buyout, then the odds are you are out of luck until at least October, when a new round of buyouts may be announced. The first three months of the fiscal year (October through December) are the most cost-effective for agencies to lure workers off the payroll.

Nonpostal buyouts ($25,000 before deductions) by themselves are not a good reason to quit or retire. According to the pros, if you desperately need the money, then you should keep working and give up Starbucks, cable, smoking, etc., and keep your day job and steady paycheck..."

Read more at FederalNewsRadio.com

Think Twice Before 'Retiring' on OWCP

"...An employee with 28 years of service with the US Postal Service informed me that he was offered the opportunity by his Human Resource folks to either take “regular” retirement with OPM, or he could take the option to retire on OWCP benefits. OWCP benefits were considerably better, so he asked my advice. I informed him that OWCP is NOT a retirement program – it is a return to work program..."

Read more at fedsmith.com

OPM Backlog Waning Despite Surge of Federal Retirees

"...The Office of Personnel Management's effort to fix its long-standing pension processing backlog is progressing faster than expected — even though many more feds have been retiring in recent months than expected.

Ken Zawodny, OPM's associate director of retirement services, said the improving numbers show the strategy the agency adopted in January is succeeding.

"We made a lot of process improvements," Zawodny said. "We've been working with the staff, we've been working with management, we've been working with the union folks, and we've been taking a good look at everything we're doing, and seeing what we can do better."..."

Read more at FederalTimes.com

OPM's Berry: Mentoring can make a difference

"...Berry’s belief in the importance of mentoring programs underscores a governmentwide emphasis on passing along knowledge from one generation of federal workers to the next. The number of federal retirees is expected to grow by 10 percent during the next decade, with spending on federal retirees to increase by 30 percent, according to Congressional Budget Office research.

The Senate passed legislation last week that includes a plan for older employees to work part time and, as they ease in to retirement, to mentor younger newer hires..."

Read more at GovExec.com

2012 NOT the Best Time to Retire

"...Thanks to buyouts, baby boomers, plumbing problems and an active anti-fed Congress, the year 2012 is shaping up to be one of the worst-ever times to retire.
For that matter, 2011 wasn't so hot either.

At the end of February, there were about 53,000 retirement applications in the Office of Personnel Management pipeline, according to the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association...some, maybe lots, of retirees are getting interim payments that are 10 percent to 60 percent (in extreme cases) less than their anticipated monthly annuity..."

Read more at FederalNewsRadio.com

OPM making progress with retirement claims backlog

"...The Office of Personnel Management accelerated its processing of retirement claims in February, according to statistics the agency released Monday.

OPM processed 9,953 pension claims in February. That's up 14 percent from the 8,749 claims the agency processed in January, and 20 percent the 8,300 claims it expected it would process in February..."

Read more at federaltimes.com

Ways to help supplement maximum CSRS annuity

"...Civil Service Retirement System employees with 41 years and 11 months of creditable service have reached the point in their careers when they have earned the maximum annuity payable under the law — 80 percent of their high-three, the average of their three highest consecutive years of basic pay.

Many of them want to know: What happens now?..."

Read more at federaltimes.com

OPM defends benefits & pay proposals

"...Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry Wednesday defended the administration's decision to offer both a 0.5 percent pay raise and a 0.4 percent increase in the amount federal employees will pay toward their retirement pensions in fiscal 2013.

"The President recognizes, for example in retirement, the world has shifted since the retirement system was last reformed in 1985," Berry said in an interview with Federal News Radio. "That was the major change from the Civil Service Retirement System to the new Federal Employees Retirement System..."

Read more & listen at federalnewsradio.com