It has come to our attention that there are personnel or payroll offices holding Individual Retirement Records (Standard Forms (SF) 2806's and 3100's) even though that office has converted its payroll operations to another office. Many of these records are subsequently lost or misplaced. As a result, the processing of retirement claims is often delayed while the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) attempts to locate or reconstruct these missing documents. The additional time needed to locate or reconstruct the records can result in unnecessary delays in retirement claims processing and financial hardship for separated/retiring employees.

Since the Individual Retirement Record (IRR) is used by OPM as the basic record for determining the retirement benefits payable to a separated employee or his or her survivors, it is important that each IRR gets routed to OPM as follows:

IF the payroll office function has already been transferred to a new office, then the losing, or "old" office must:

• Locate all IRRs still being housed at the old payroll office (We understand that some of these records are kept in file cabinets, boxes, storage rooms, etc.).
• Immediately forward the records to OPM's Retirement Operations Center, Retirement Operations Center, Boyers, Pennsylvania, 16017, for maintenance.

IF a transfer of payroll office function occurs in the future, then:

• The losing or old payroll office should forward all SF 2806's and 3100's in their possession to the Office of Personnel Management, Retirement Operations Center, Boyers, Pennsylvania, 16017, when the transfer takes place.
• The losing office would certify the service history and deductions prior to the conversion and either transfer the contribution balance to the new payroll office, or close out the record, (In either case, the SF 2806 or 3100 on file prior to conversion would be forwarded to OPM).
• The new payroll office would establish a new SF 2806 or 3100 showing the service and deductions after the conversion.

Raymond J. Kirk, Acting Director Benefits Officers Resource Center Retirement and Insurance Service

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