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A Treasure Trove of Goodies

By John Grobe

Monday, April 20, 2009

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John Grobe is a retired federal employee with over 25 years of experience in federal human resources and President of Federal Career Experts, a training and consulting firm that specializes in federal employee retirement and career transition issues.

HR 1256 is a virtual treasure trove of goodies for federal employees, especially FERS folks. In an earlier article, I addressed the provision of the bill that would allow FERS employees to count sick leave in the computation of their annuities.

The bill also would let FERS employees who have left federal service and withdrawn their contributions pay them back upon their return and receive credit for that time in the computation of their retirement.

Currently FERS employees who withdraw contributions cannot pay them back and lose credit for the time the contributions represent in the computation of their retirement. This truly is a big deal for those FERS employees who have left early in their career and, thinking they would never return, took their money out.

In delivering pre-retirement seminars, I have met many FERS employees who have withdrawn their contributions. Usually it is just a few years of service, but I have met people who have taken out as much as eleven years of FERS contributions.

Another provision in the bill would allow agencies to automatically enroll new employees in the TSP. This would force employees to "opt out", rather than the current situation where employees must opt in.

Some time ago I asked readers how they felt about automatic enrollment and what should be the default fund. A large majority of the respondents favored automatic enrollment. The funds most often mentioned as the default choice were the G fund or an age-appropriate L fund.
 

© 2010 John Grobe. All rights reserved. This article may not be reproduced without express written consent from John Grobe.

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Readers' Comments

  • Thank you both. These are the simplest, most helpful explanations I have read....
    Posted: April 24, 2009 12:17 AM
  • People leave their federal jobs for a number of reasons: Forget about now, but look at the atmosphere in the past. (1) More pay now or an opportunity for more pay later This may or may not be true but will be sold by the recruitor to the prospective employee; (2) A currently bad work environme...
    Posted: April 23, 2009 10:03 AM
  • The law says that only people "otherwise eligible for retirement" can get sick leave credited towards retirement. The USDA QA person is right, but don't interpret that comment to mean anyone can retire earlier than normal using sick leave credit. That is clearly not allowed....
    Posted: April 22, 2009 12:53 PM

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