Benefits Newsletter: September, 2021

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

• You performed temporary service not covered under the retirement system.  This is known as deposit service. (Employees covered under FERS can make deposits only for temporary service performed prior to January 1, 1989).

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.

If you are entitled to Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) at age 65, you should enroll, even if you are still working. This may help cover some of the costs that your Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) plan may not cover, such as deductibles, coinsurance, and charges that exceed the plan's allowable charges.   There is no premium for Part A.  The Medicare taxes you pay while working entitles you to Part A.  

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

For information (CSRS and FERS) on what happens to your benefits upon separation, visit the OHR Retirement & Employee Benefits Branch’s website.  Should you have any questions, please notify your

To be eligible to continue your health benefits enrollment into retirement, you must: (1) have retired on an immediate annuity (that is, an annuity which begins to accrue no later than one month after the date of your final separation); and (2) have been continuously enrolled (or covered as a family member) in any FEHB Program plan (not necessarily the same plan) for the five years of service immediately preceding retirement, or if less than five years, for all service since your first opportunity to enroll.

If you have retirement questions and want the convenience of viewing a retirement presentation at your leisure, check out a recorded retirement overview presentation, which was conducted by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). 

The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement savings and investment plan for Federal employees and members of the uniformed services.  If you are covered under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS, FERS-RAE, and FERS-FRAE), contributing to the TSP is extremely important, as the TSP will be a very large part of your retirement income.  To learn about the importance of contributing to the TSP, take a few minutes to view the following short, informative videos: