Federal Retirees

They received the application paperwork in November, two months early. First payment should have been in January. I got the CSA Number on Feb 14th and nothing since. They told me by email the other day it could be June before anything further happens.

I don't call that efficient.

Maybe I'll hear something before then, who knows. They certainly don't. Something about 'we are waiting for a legal administrative specialist they are the ones that actually do the calculations and complete your retirement.'

Correct. My last day of Federal service was in '98.

#1 Called OPM and said I had enough 1/20/2018 They said I did not need to give notice to plant manager.
#2 Retirement day 1/27/2018.
#3 Week to receive annual leave (10 weeks on someones desk.) Secretary finally called me told her to MAIL IT.
#4 Weeks for interim 5 weeks.
#5 2 1/2 month finalize.
#6 Boyers
#7 FERS

nice coming from someone who left in 1998!!!!

I am not sure why you waited 20 years after you retired to apply for pension! That is your opinion about OPM as I retired on December 31 and was finalized on March 5. They were very efficient and accurate! I am quite pleased with my outcome.

Looking at posts from several years ago, it appears that he left federal employment in 1998 after 7 years of service. Therefore, he obviously waited until age 62 (or perhaps later) when he qualified and applied for a deferred annuity. My guess is that the delay in processing is caused by recreating his employment history, confirming eligibility, and determining the proper annuity amount. But, that's just a guess.

https://forum.federalsou...s&t=27183#post269839

Edited by user Friday, May 10, 2019 4:52:29 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

See how long it takes to recreate a history to see what is going on?

Your post #1521 read like you just retired.

You might go back to work before your retirement date. So why would the waste their time finalizing your paperwork until your final work day?

Edited by user Friday, May 17, 2019 5:02:44 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I wonder if any other recent retirees out there have experienced this issue this year.

I retired on 12/31/18. Everything went fairly smoothly regarding getting my final paychecks, my lump sum payment for my annual leave was received in January, and my retirement benefit from OPM was finalized with my 4/1 payment, but I experienced two issues…

1. My agency refuses to pay me the retroactive 2019 COLA portion of my annual leave payment. There are numerous references which discuss how retirees receive their annual leave as if they were still working, and therefore any COLA that occurs during that period is applied to a portion of the payment as if you were still working. OPM also specified this year that the late COLA must still be applied retroactively to retirees. Here’s the OPM Fact Sheet that covers how it works: https://www.opm.gov/poli...yments-for-annual-leave/ In my case the 2019 COLA which was finally authorized and paid out to working Feds in April 2019 should result in an additional payment to me of about $448. I’ve been emailing my HR retirement reps about it since April, and after several months of excuses they finally agreed and forwarded my request to Payroll in late August. Now I’ve bugged them again today for status. It would be nice to get the payment in the same calendar year at least, but it’s looking like I’ll just never get it. The amount is small and won’t break me, it’s more the principle that I’m not getting paid something due to me that’s irritating. The agency I retired from was the NNSA branch of DOE. I asked OPM about this and they were surprised since to their knowledge all agencies were paying this retroactive amount due to retirees.
2. There was one mistake in my retirement benefit. I’m a FERS retiree with a CSRS component. For my sick leave I had 604 hours applicable to my CSRS years in the government (I left that job in 1990 and came back to work in late 1991, 18 months later as CSRS Offset, but then switched to FERS after one pay period. OPM got my total number of sick leave hours correct (over 2200) but the clerk made a data entry error and only gave me credit for 4 hours of sick leave attributable to my CSRS years, instead of 604 hours, and then mistakenly applied that other 600 hours to my FERS time. The end result is that my annuity came out $19/month lower than it should be. I called OPM about this right away, then per their instruction emailed them two documents proving I had 604 hours of sick leave with I left my CSRS job in 1990 and a description of the error. They assured me a Specialist would be assigned to fix it and it would get fixed. Two months later, in June, I called and was told that my request was dropped by the Specialist, for no reason other than they just didn’t want to do it. The OPM phone rep actually said that. What?!! I was then told I’d need to submit my request again, by formal letter this time, and then wait a "very very long time" for it to get fixed. I did that in July, and am now waiting. I called last month to make sure that they did get my letter and they said yes, and it was assigned to a Specialist in late August (it took them a full month just to do that), and was told again that it will take an "very long time" to get to it. Sheez. This error could be fixed in 2 minutes. As with issue #1 above, it’s not a lot of money (though with future COLA’s and hopefully decades of annuities to come it will add up to a significant sum), but it’s more the principle of OPM not caring that’s irritating.

Anyone else have similar issues this year?

A follow-up regarding the COLA portion of my annual leave lump-sum payment. I received the check today from DFAS, along with a separate statement. So now I'm just waiting for OPM to fix the error in my annuity.

Edited by user Friday, October 11, 2019 9:40:06 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

1. Date of retirement: December 31, 2019
2. Received AL buyout without 2020 cola adjustment January 10, 2020
3. No buyout
4. First interim payment received: January 31, 2020
5. Still not done, logged in to the OPM servicing site and my package has been assigned to a specialist on January 17, 2020, but as of today marked incomplete.
6. Processing site: Boyers PA
7. FERs or CSRS: FERS only

I knew retiring at the end of the year would cause delays so at this point I am somewhat happy with the process. However 2 coworkers who retired on the same date had theirs finalized and received the COLA adjustment payment for the AL buyback today, February 7, 2020. I have 35 years of service however I was activated in the Air Force Reserves numerous times, of which I bought all the time back. In April 2009 I switched from being an Air Reserve Technician to being a DCMA QAR. The buyback block of my Leave and Earnings statement didn't transfer with me, I called and was told that was normal. Fast forward to October-November 2019 my agency ABC in Ft Riley Kansas asked for more documentation about buybacks done while an Air Reserve Technician. Luckily I saved all the paperwork, to include cancelled checks. Unluckily my buyback letters did not have dates or $ amounts but referred to an attached in lieu of form OPM 1514 which I included. However there was an error on one of the buy back dates stating 10 years instead of 4 years (my initial active duty period). My agency received the paperwork and said I was good to go. Now I sit here wondering if maybe I'm not. My big worry is that they will not acknowledge my buyback which will put me under 30 years, not good. Also the annual leave COLA payment should not have been affected by any buyback of military time in the past. That is my situation today, luckily I'm not in a position where I need my full annuity, FERS supplement or COLA adjusted AL check. I just wanted to vent while I wait.