Retirement Services Retirement FAQs

I am a retiree registered in the FERCCA Database and recently received a letter from OPM informing me that I am ineligible for relief under FERCCA. The letter also included a form that I could fill out and send to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to appeal the decision. What is the MSPB and what does it have to do with FERCCA? The MSPB is an independent quasi-judicial agency in the Executive Branch that serves as the guardian of Federal Merit Systems. Since it began operations in January 1979, its mission has been to ensure that Federal employees are protected against abuses by agency management; that Executive Branch agencies make employment decisions in accordance with Merit System principles; and that Federal Merit Systems are kept free of prohibited personnel practices. The MSPB accomplishes its mission in a variety of ways, but mainly it functions as a court and adjudicates Federal employee appeals of agency personnel actions. Consequently, the MSPB is the authority that will hear appeals on eligibility verification arising out of cases of erroneous retirement coverage.

Your OPF contains personnel documents that reflect your Federal employment history. These documents show the type of appointment, retirement coverage, changes in retirement coverage, and effective date, among other information. These four pieces of information, along with the 5-year test, are used as the basis for determining FERCCA eligibility.

Allow a reasonable time for your agency to provide you with an official notice of the decision. If they fail to contact you in a reasonable amount of time feel free to contact them.

We will suspend processing of the case and contact the employing agency to request the missing or any related documentation. In some cases where documentation is lost or missing, the individuals who have kept copies of their records are able to supply the necessary document(s) or a valid substitute. If documentation cannot be recovered, we will work with the individual and the employing agency to develop alternative documentation.

Except for the last 3 years, the money you erroneously paid into Social Security will remain to your credit in the Social Security fund. The Social Security Administration will include all but those last 3 years in determining your eligibility for, and the amount of, future benefits. The amount you paid into Social Security for the last 3 years will be transferred to your account in the Civil Service Retirement fund. Your employing agency will pay all additional retirement contributions owed for your CSRS time. It may not go back and bill you for additional retirement deductions when it corrects the error.

It is important to remember that contact by a counselor will occur only after you receive a Letter of Eligibility. If you have received notification that you are eligible for relief under FERCCA (a Letter of Eligibility), processing of your case will continue in order to develop your Election Summary package. This package will be mailed to you and followed soon thereafter by a telephone call from a counselor who will confirm that you received the package and to make sure that you had sufficient time to review it. The counselor will be prepared to answer any questions that you may have about the information in the package and will explain the next steps to complete the process.

In the coming months, OPM will be providing agencies and employees with detailed information about FERCCA, the different retirement plans, and how you make an election. OPM wants to make sure that you receive complete counseling about your options before you make your election. Once you make your election, you cannot change it. OPM will contact you and provide you with detailed information regarding your options under FERCCA. For example, you will know how much you can expect to receive under each retirement plan, including Social Security and Thrift Savings Plan benefits. You do not have to make an election until you have had the opportunity to ask all questions you have about your retirement benefits. We at OPM realize that some of you may be postponing retirement or other major events until your retirement coverage error is resolved. While we will provide election information and benefits counseling as soon as possible, we will make special provisions for those individuals who need to make an election immediately.

We are currently working on procedures for making these types of corrections and anticipate that we will begin correcting them in the near future.

CSRS stands for the Civil Service Retirement System. CSRS was created in 1920 and was the only retirement plan for most Federal civilian employees until 1984. CSRS is a defined benefit retirement plan that provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits. Agencies deduct a set percentage of your basic pay (7% for most employees) and contribute a matching amount to CSRS. The basic annuity is computed based on your length of service and the highest average basic pay you earned during any 3 consecutive years of service (know as the "high-3" average pay). For most employees, the CSRS basic benefit is computed by adding:

• 1% of your high-3 average pay times service up to 5 years, plus
• 1% of your high-3 average pay times years of service over 5 and up to 10, plus
• 2% of your high-3 average pay times years of service over 20.

No. Makeup contributions may only be made by payroll deductions from basic pay. Contributions by check, money order, cash, or other forms of payment directly from the participant to the TSP, or from the participant to the employing agency for deposit to the TSP, are not permitted.