The federal government\u2019s backlog of pending retirement claims hit the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic last month, as tens of thousands of federal workers who accepted the Trump administration\u2019s so-called deferred resignation program.<\/p>\n
While January and February are traditionally the busiest months for processing federal employees\u2019 retirement applications, the deferred resignation program, stemming from Elon Musk\u2019s controversial \u201cfork in the road\u201d email, created a new logjam last month, as most who agreed to leave federal service through the initiative did were paid through Sept. 30. A second tranche is expected next January, as some DRP participants were allowed to remain on paid leave through the end of the calendar year in order to reach retirement eligibility.<\/p>\n
All told, OPM received 20,344 new retirement claims in October. The agency processed 8,751 applications during the same time period\u2014an increase over September\u2019s 7,902 despite the ongoing government shutdown\u2014causing the agency\u2019s backlog to balloon to 34,587 pending claims.<\/p>\n
The October spike follows another abnormal spike that occurred in May and June, following the administration\u2019s rollout of Voluntary Early Retirement Authority along with the deferred resignation program to induce feds to leave government.<\/p>\n
The current backlog is the highest that OPM has seen since March 2022, when, following the COVID-19 pandemic, it reached 36,000 pending claims. Since 2022, OPM under the Biden administration engaged in a combination of technological innovations with increased staffing during peak periods to bring the backlog to within 2,000 claims of the agency\u2019s steady state goal of 13,000, leading its inspector general removing retirement processing from its list of the top management challenges<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n Conversely, despite OPM Director Scott Kupor\u2019s touted launch of an online retirement application<\/a> for departing federal workers, the backlog has steadily grown<\/a> since April. On a monthly basis, the average time it takes for OPM to process a retirement application sat at 79 days last month, an increase over the 44-day average achieved last February.<\/p>\n