This article is part of a series dealing with common misconceptions about federal benefits and retirement. These articles are written by John Grobe and Ehren Clovis.
Myth-conception: Congress is about to pass a law that will offer generous VERA (early-out) and VSIP (buy-out) terms. This is designed to A) drastically reduce the number of CSRS employees; or B) to reduce the federal workforce by some specified target (e.g., 10%, 20%, etc.).
Reality: There is not now, nor has there been in the past, any serious attempt to sweeten the pot on either VERAs or VSIPs.
We all want to believe that something good will happen to us; and often it does, just not when it comes to our federal employment. You have to look back a few years to find the last “good deed” done for federal employees by Congress. That deed was allowing FERS employees to credit unused sick leave towards their length of service in the computation of their FERS pension. Since that time we have had salaries frozen and been subject to numerous threats to other benefits.
The saying, “if it sounds too good to be true, it is” applies here. There have been rumors that promised a $75,000 buy-out for federal employees – not so. There have been rumors that said all who took the early-out would receive credit for an additional five years of service in their retirement computation – also not so.
Even if the rumor sounds official, it isn’t. Ten or so years ago there was a rumor that promised both of the items listed in the above paragraph. The rumor went so far as to list the names of the bill’s sponsors. A quick check of the Members of Congress at that time showed no Representatives with those names.
We can take Ronald Reagan’s statement of “trust, but verify” and cut it in half. “Verify” should be the first thing you do when something sounds too good to be true. If a bill that offered generous VERA and VSIP terms were introduced in Congress, it would be major news, as Congress usually considers legislation that is against the interest (not in the interest) of the federal employee. If we see mainstream news sources reporting the introduction, then we can let out hopes rise. We shouldn’t, however, let them rise too much, as it is a long journey from a bill to a law..
