Get Going on Processing Retirement Applications, OPM Tells Agencies

For those who have yet to submit their retirement applications, “A furlough period for which retroactive pay is received is fully creditable for retirement purposes and is not considered LWOP.” Image: iStock.com/Douglas Rissing
By: FEDweek Staff

OPM’s post-shutdown guidance to agencies states that “If any retirement application has been delayed because of the lapse in appropriations, it should be quickly processed and submitted to OPM so that OPM will be able to begin annuity payments as soon as possible.”

Agency-level processing of retirement applications has been a concern for the tens of thousands of federal employees who retired in September, in many cases at the end of their deferred resignation periods. Before a retirement application is sent to OPM, agency personnel and payroll offices have responsibilities—which can take several weeks or longer—but many of those personnel were furloughed, stalling that work.

While OPM’s retirement processing functions continued during the shutdown because they are separately funded, the backlog and the average processing time there jumped in October as a surge of applications reached that agency. More retirements following the end of deferred resignation periods are yet to reach OPM, with the annual spike in applications around the turn of the year also ahead.

Says the guidance, “For employees who, on or before the requested retirement date, submitted some notice of their desire to retire, agencies should make the retirement effective as of the date requested. The retirement request may be informal (such as a letter requesting retirement) and can be either mailed or personally submitted to the agency. No time spent by the retiree on such actions after the effective date of the retirement may be considered as duty time, since the individual would no longer be an employee of the agency.”

For those who have yet to submit their retirement applications, “A furlough period for which retroactive pay is received is fully creditable for retirement purposes and is not considered LWOP.” Standard deductions for toward retirement benefits are to be taken from back pay for those who were unpaid during the shutdown.

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