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Benefits August 11, 2014
Phased Retirement Program Set Up for Federal Employees
August 11, 2014 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued final regulations on Phased Retirement, a program allowing full-time federal employees to work part-time schedules and begin to draw retirement benefits.
Reported by Kevin McGuinness
According to the OPM regulations, employees who are eligible for Phased Retirement and want to continue working on a part-time basis may do so with the agreement of their agencies. During Phased Retirement, an employee will receive a partial annuity and will keep accruing additional service credit toward their final annuity.
Employees approved for phased retirement will spend 20% of their time in mentoring activities to facilitate the transfer of their knowledge and skills to other employees within the agency. Each agency will have the flexibility to implement the mentoring component in a way that is best for the agency and employees.
“Phased Retirement offers an innovative alternative to traditional retirement for the 21st century work force,” says OPM Director Katherine Archuleta, based in Washington, D.C. “Phased Retirement provides a new tool that allows managers to better provide unique mentoring opportunities for employees, while increasing access to the decades of institutional knowledge and experience that retirees can provide.”
The Phased Retirement final regulations will take effect 90 days from August 8. This means that agencies can send their Phased Retirement applications to OPM for processing as early as November 6.
The final regulations may be viewed in the Federal Register.