Phased retirement
Phased Retirement – Survivors Benefit
Phased Retirement
The Phased Retirement program as it stands provides no survivor benefit based on the proposed Phased Retirement annuity.
However, if the employee dies prior to full retirement, survivor benefits will be the same as an employee who dies in service. Some minor adjustments will be made as the special structure of the Phased Retirement program dictates.
Although the Phased Retirement period will be treated as part-time when computing the survivor annuity, the basic Employee Death Benefit will be based on the full-time earnings of the employee’s position. Remember to stay up to date on the current information to ensure your retirement is comfortable and secure. There is no such thing as ‘over-preparation’ when concerning your retirement. Be sure to utilize the links at the bottom of this article to ensure you have a solid understanding of the topic. Individuals under special retirement conditions such as mandatory retirement may not participate in the Phased Retirement program.
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Phased Retirement – Who Can Participate
Who can Participate in Phased Retirement?
Phased retirement is a voluntary program where both employee and employer must mutually agree to be a part of the program. There are some conditions that exist both for CSRS and FERS employees. Each group must have had full-time work status for three years prior to participation.
CSRS employees must be eligible for an immediate retirement annuity. The years of creditable service must be at a minimum of 30 years and an age of 55 or 20 years of service with an age of 60.
Under FERS similar conditions must exist. The individual must be eligible for an immediate annuity with 30 years of creditable service and a MRA of 55-57 based on the year of birth or 20 years of creditable service and 60 years of age.
As with any program or service impacting your retirement future, it is very important to clearly understand all provisions, rules and regulations. Further it is your responsibility to analyze each situation to see if it is a good fit for you and your family.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
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Phased Retirement – The Process
The Phased Retirement Process
Should Phased Retirement be implemented, instead of a retiree entering into full-time retirement, the retiree opts to work a part-time basis while actually being retired on a part-time basis. The potential, however, with the existing backlog of retirement applications and ‘brain drain’ that could hinder some Agencies from doing their job, this ‘opt-in’ basis may not be as voluntary as we all would like.
As it stands, the amount of the retiree’s annuity would be calculated as if a full-time annuity, then it would be divided by 2 or split in half giving the part-time retiree virtually half of their retirement. Let’s remember OPM’s Phased Retirement remains at the moment a work in progress.
The Phased Retirement annuity is paid as half given the current scenario, while the individual also receives pay for a half-time schedule. When the individual participating in the Phased Retirement fully retires there will be a recalculation done. The computation will be as if the individual had been employed full-time divided by two before adjusting for survivor benefits if applicable.
After arriving at that amount, it would then be added to the original phased annuity with the combined amount providing the basis for the survivor annuity adjustments and benefits. During the period worked in phased retirement, OPM proposes that the lifetime retirement income will increase as a result of the impact on length of service.
Phased retirement considers a full-time and part-time work scenario that would increase the benefit more than what would have been realized if the individual had retired fully without the benefit of phased retirement. However, that scenario is less than if the individual had simply continued working full-time during the Phased retirement period.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
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Explanation of Phased Retirement
Phased Retirement – Has Its Time Come?
Phased Retirement
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has proposed a “Phased Retirement” program. Although implementation has not been announced, it may be valuable to our readers to get a jump start on what Phased Retirement is all about.
The Office of Personnel Management realizes the importance of preserving and protecting institutional knowledge. As federal employees leave the federal service, it is apparent that their physical-selves are not the only aspect of their presence that is leaving the service. The knowledge and know-how acquired over a life-time of federal service is also leaving, an invaluable and irreplaceable resource, and a resource that can only be preserved and protected by the passing on of knowledge.
Knowledge unshared is truly knowledge lost. Through Phased Retirement, OPM is exploring a way to harness some of that knowledge by introducing a mechanism by which potential retirees can stay a little longer, until that knowledge and expertise can be ingested and digested by the next generation of federal workers.
In essence that is the core concept of Phased Retirement. The idea of Phased Retirement is a very clear signal as to the trajectory of the federal workforce. It also is a clear indication that the leadership of the largest workforce in the world has seen the flaw of reactionary management. Every successful workforce, no matter its size, is better served by recognizing the value of knowledge and working proactively to preserve and protect a resource of unparalleled importance to the growth and prosperity of a nation.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
RELATED ARTICLES
Explanation of Phased Retirement
Phased Retirement – Closing the Knowledge Gap
Phased Retirement – Participation
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