A law was recently passed -- the Federal Erroneous Retirement Coverage Correction Act (FERCCA) - that provides relief to employees who are in the wrong retirement plan. If you think you are (or may be) in the wrong retirement plan, we need to hear from you.
How Can FERCCA Help Me? If you were in the wrong retirement plan for at least 3 years of service after December 31, 1986, you may: 1) have an opportunity to choose another retirement plan, 2) be reimbursed for certain out-of-pocket expenses paid as a result of a coverage error, 3) be able to make up missed contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan, and 4) benefit from certain changes in the rules about how some of your Government service counts toward retirement
What Do I Need to Do Now? If you think FERCCA can help you, we want to add your name to the FERCCA database that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has established on its web site, http://www.opm.gov/benefits/correction. You may contact your agency representative, listed below, or if you prefer, you can add your name yourself. The important thing is that your name gets on the database.
What Will Happen Next? Once
employees are identified, OPM will gather information from personnel and
payroll records, verify the options under FERCCA, and help employees make
informed decisions. If you have a choice of retirement plans, you will
receive an in-depth comparison of your benefits under each. This comparison
will include how much you can expect to receive under each retirement plan,
including Social Security and Thrift Savings Plan benefits. OPM will provide
you with an opportunity for one-on-one personal assistance to help you
weigh your options. This counseling is expected to begin June 1, 2001,
or sooner.
|
Who Can I Contact for More Information? If you have any questions concerning your retirement plan or FERCCA, please contact your servicing personnel office. If you do not know whom to contact, you may call the following person in your bureau or agency for guidance. |
|
Department of the Interior BLM Debbie Esposito, 202-208-4695 |
|
Department of Education HQ Employees call 202-401-1920 |
|
Small Agencies: Commission Fine Arts, Margie Krom, 703-787-1439 |
How Do I Know if I'm in the Right Retirement Plan?
Which retirement plan you belong in depends upon the type of appointment you have and your work history. The rules can be complicated. That's why some employees are in the wrong plan.
Most employees who started working for the Government after December 31, 1983 should be in FERS. Those who started working for the Government on a permanent basis before January 1, 1984 should be in CSRS unless they elected FERS or left Government employment for a while. When errors occur, they often involve situations where an employee has breaks in Government service or changes in appointments.
Below are some of the common errors, broken
down by retirement plan. Find your retirement plan and see if you fit into
any of the situations listed. (If you don't know your retirement plan,
you can find it by looking in Block 30 on one of your Standard Form 50s,
Notifications of Personnel Actions.) If you fit one of the situations listed,
you may be in the wrong plan. Remember, there are exceptions to the general
rules. You may be in the right retirement plan because you fall under one
of the exceptions (like the one shown under CSRS Offset). If you have any
questions or concerns, please contact us. We can check to make sure that
you are in the right retirement plan.
| If your retirement plan is: | Then you may be in the wrong plan if you: |
| CSRS | Worked for the Government before 1984,
but not on a permanent basis; or
Left Federal employment for more than a year at any time after 1983. |
| CSRS or CSRS Offset | Have a temporary appointment limited to
a year or less, a term appointment, or an emergency indefinite appointment;
or
Have no Federal civilian employment before 1984; or Do not have a career or career conditional appointment and you work on an intermittent basis. (See the work schedule block on your SF-50.) |
| CSRS Offset | Did not work for the Government for a
total of 5 years before 1987.
(Don't count your military service.) Exception: If you worked under CSRS, left the Government, and your agency placed you in CSRS Offset on your return, your CSRS Offset coverage is probably correct if you had 5 years of Government service when you left. |
| FERS | Have a temporary appointment limited to
a year or less; or
Do not have a career or career conditional appointment and you work on an intermittent basis; or Have worked for the Government under a retirement plan continuously since December 31, 1983, unless you elected to transfer to FERS during the 1987 or 1998 FERS Open Seasons. |
You can monitor OPM's progress in implementing FERCCA by visiting OPM's error correction web site at http://www.opm.gov/benefits/correction. If you would like to receive updates directly by email, click on "Subscribe to Email List" link.