Benefits Newsletter: February, 2025

When An Employee Enters Leave Without Pay (LWOP) Status – If an employee will be on LWOP for more than 30 consecutive days, a personnel action must be processed. For guidance, please contact the servicing HR Specialist in Recruitment, Staffing, and Classification.  And because non-pay status can severely impact an employee’s benefits, it is also very important that you notify the servicing Benefits Specialist as soon as you are notified that the employee is going on LWOP.  To find the servicing specialists, visit the 

Your eligibility to retire depends upon your age, years of creditable service, and the retirement system under which you are covered.   For information on the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS and CSRS-Offset), go to CSRS.  For information on the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS, FERS-RAE and FERS-FRAE), go to

If you are getting married or divorced, or you are having or adopting a child, those are qualifying life events (QLE) that will allow you to make certain changes to your benefits outside of the annual Benefits Open Season.   For information on the timelines and the process, go insurance changes. 

You may owe money to the retirement fund if one of the following applies to you:

Employees who performed active-duty military service after December 31, 1956 (after June 30, 1960, in the PHS Commissioned Corps), may need to pay a military deposit (including interest) to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) prior to retirement in order to receive retirement credit for their military service. The requirements are different for different retirement systems.

When your child reaches age 26, he or she is no longer eligible to be covered under your health benefits enrollment, unless your child is incapable of self-support because of a mental or physical disability that existed before age 26.  If your child turning age 26 means that you have no other eligible family members, or you have only one remaining eligible family member, you must submit a

When your child reaches age 22 (or marries before age 22) he or she is no longer eligible to be covered under your life insurance family enrollment, except as indicated below.

When your child reaches age 22 (or marries before age 22), he or she is no longer eligible to be covered under your Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) enrollment, unless your child is incapable of self-support due to a mental or physical disability that existed before age 22.  If your child turning age 22 means that you have no other eligible covered family members, or you have only one remaining eligible family member under your “Self and Family” enrollment, you must notify