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Phased Retirement Employee GuideDo you meet the eligibility to participate in phased retirement?You must have been employed full-time for 3 years before the date you anticipate entering into phased retirementAre you eligible for voluntary retirement?CSRS employees: at least 55 years of age with 30 or more years of service at least 60 years of age with 20 or more years of serviceFERS employees:at least the Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) with 30 or more years of serviceat least 60 years of age with 20 or more years of serviceAre you ready for full retirement?Have you evaluated your personal and financial readiness for retirement?Have you reviewed your personnel records and requested retirement estimates and counseling in order to make an informed decision?Have you paid in full any military or civilian deposits/redeposits you may owe? These must be paid in full prior to entering into phased retirement.Have you thought about a retirement date?Do you understand that once you enter into phased retirement, you may only return to regular employment under limited circumstances that have to be approved by the agency? And, if approved, you may never participate in Phased Retirement again.Have you thought about the time period that you would like to participate in phased retirement?The maximum time period to participate is two years.If your original approved time period is less than two years, you may request an extension (up to the two year maximum). This will need to be approved by the agency.What are the effects of phased retirement on your pay and benefits?Work Schedule:You must be on a part-time bi-weekly work schedule of 40 hours per pay period. No other work schedule is permitted.You may participate in a flexible or compressed work schedule as any other part-time employee does.You may earn and use compensatory time off for travel and for religious purposes.You may work more than 40 hours in a pay period only in very limited emergency situations which must be approved in writing in advance.Credit hours and compensatory time (for religious or travel purposes) earned may be in excess of the 40 hour schedule without requiring the approval of an emergency situation.Pay:Your gross pay will equal your regular salary plus locality for the number of hours worked or in approved non-work pay status (e.g., leave, time off award, credit hours).Your net pay may be less than half of your full-time net due to the impact of the amounts taken from your pay for benefits. Annuity while in phased retirement:Your phased retirement annuity will equal half of the annuity you would have received if you fully retired on the date you entered phased retirement except that:The calculation of your annuity does not include your accrued sick leave.There is no deduction for a survivor annuity.FERS employees are not eligible for the Retirement Annuity Supplement.If you are covered under CSRS, you will receive Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) on your annuity. If you are covered under FERS, you will not receive a COLA unless you are age 62 or older or unless you have a CSRS component to your annuity. In that case, you would receive a COLA on the CSRS portion of your annuity.Annual and Sick Leave:Your annual and sick leave remain to your credit as an employee and you will not receive a lump sum payment for your annual leave when you enter phased retirement.Part-time employees earn leave on a prorated basis. All phased retirement employees will have at least 20 years of service and will be in the 8-hour category for annual leave; therefore, you will accrue 1 hour of annual leave for every 10 hours in a pay status. You will also accrue 1 hour of sick leave for every 20 hours in a pay status. An employee working 40 hours in a pay period will accrue 4 hours of annual leave and 2 hours of sick leave.Phased retirement does not affect your annual leave ceiling. You will still be limited to the carryover balances as any other employee.Holiday Leave:A part-time employee is entitled to a paid holiday for the number of hours scheduled for that day when the holiday falls on a regularly scheduled workday. If the holiday falls on a non-workday, you are not entitled to an “in lieu of” holiday.Retirement Contributions:You will continue to make contributions to your retirement system.Applicable deductions to your retirement systems will be based on your bi-weekly part-time pay, not including awards or premium pay.Federal Employees’ Health Benefits (FEHB) and the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) Programs:An employee participating in phased retirement is considered to be working full-time and your premiums will continue to be deducted as such. There will be no change in the amount of your deductions.Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) and Federal Employees Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP):Premiums will continue to be deducted from your salary.Federal Employees Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAFEDS):You may continue to participate in FSAFEDS. The amounts you elected to save in your FSAs for the year you enter phased retirement will not change. Keep in mind that FSAFEDS enrollment does not carry over from year to year so in order to continue participating, you must re-enroll during Open Season.Thrift Savings Plan (TSP):Phased retirees are eligible to continue their eligibility to participate in the TSP. FERS employees will continue to receive the Agency’s matching contributions based on their bi-weekly part-time pay, not including awards or premium pay.Your employment is considered as a regular part-time employee for TSP purposes; therefore, you are not eligible to make post-employment withdrawals. For information regarding eligible in-service withdrawals, please visit TSP at .If you are in a phased retirement status, you will not be subject to the required minimum distributions for TSP.Annuity upon full retirement:When you fully retire, the full retirement annuity (the “composite retirement annuity”) will equal the sum of the phased retirement annuity, updated by any COLAs you received, plus the amount of the final phased portion of the full retirement annuity. The final phased portion of the full retirement annuity equals 50 percent of the full annuity you would have received had you not elected phased retirement and, instead, continued working full-time until full retirement. The time served as a phased retiree counts as full-time years of service in computing the final phased portion of the composite annuity. The final phased portion of the composite annuity includes credit for unused sick leave. The composite annuity is subject to a reduction for a survivor annuity election, if applicable. If applicable, the FERS Annuity Supplement may be paid after you fully retire and begin receiving the composite annuity. What is your proposed work plan?Can you identify a meaningful portion of work in your current position that may be performed on a part-time basis? Keep in mind that 20% of your time must be spent in mentoring activities.Are you a supervisor? If so, your application must detail how the supervisory work will be performed while you are in phased retirement. Will your supervisory duties be transferred to someone else or will you continue performing these duties?What is your proposed mentoring plan?What knowledge do you propose to transfer during your time as a phased retiree?Who will you mentor (may be an individual or a group)?What will your mentoring activities consist of?What is your proposed mentoring schedule (remember, you must mentor for at leave 20% of your work schedule).Do you have the skills and interest to perform the proposed mentoring activities? You will have a critical element added to your performance plan to evaluate the performance of this work.Applying for phased retirementYou must obtain a certification of eligibility from your Human Resources (HR) office, by contacting the HRD Call Center to get in touch with a retirement specialist to receive an estimate of the phased annuity, as well as an estimate of the full annuity. You will complete Section A and the HR specialist will sign and date Section B of the Department of Commerce Phased Retirement Request/Agreement form as the certification of your eligibility.After receiving your eligibility certification, you will apply in writing to your first level supervisor by completing Sections C and D of the form. Along with the request form, you must also submit form SF3116, Phased Employment/Phased Retirement Status Elections, with Sections A and B of Part 1a completed.After discussion of your proposal, if your first level supervisor agrees with your application, they will complete Section E of the request form and forward to your second level supervisor (if applicable) for review and approval/disapproval.If both supervisors approve your request form, the form and the SF3116 should be forwarded to your Division Chief review and final approval. The review process may take up to 30 days.Once your Division Chief has reviewed your request form and the SF3116, if they approve, they will complete Section F of the request form and Section C of Part 1a of the SF3116. You will need to complete Section G of the request form and have your first level supervisor sign the form again. You will also need to complete the Application for Immediate Retirement, Form SF2801 (CSRS) or SF3107 (FERS). Once completed, please forward all forms to your servicing retirement specialist. Your specialist will walk you through completing all forms needed to finalize your processing into phased retirement.What if your application is not approved?If your application is not approved, you will receive a written reason for the disapproval.You may request a reconsideration of a denied request to participate in phased retirement from an approving official one level above the approving official who denied the initial request, unless that official is the Director. This reconsideration must be submitted within 15 days of the denial.If you are dissatisfied with any decision regarding your request to participate in phased retirement, you may elect to follow the procedures in DAO 202-771, “Administrative Grievance Procedure”, or the applicable negotiated grievance procedure, as applicable. If you believe a decision was based on an illegal discriminatory or retaliatory motive, you have the right to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and/or with the Office of Special Counsel. A denial of an employee’s application for phased retirement is not an appealable adverse action that would be reviewed by the Merit Systems Protection Board under Title 5, U.S.C. Chapter 75.Withdrawing an approved applicationYou may withdraw your application any time before the election becomes effective, but not after the effective date. Extending the initial phased retirement periodYou may request an extension of your initial phased retirement time period, up to a total time of no more than 2 years. Your written request should be submitted no less than 60 days before the end of the initial period. Your request must include the same content as your initial application for phased retirement. The same criteria for approval apply, along with management’s assessment of your initial phased retirement period. An extension must be effected before the end date of the initial phased retirement period. If your request is disapproved, you may not grieve this decision or appeal it to MSPB. Ending your period of phased retirementTransitioning into full retirement:At least 60 days prior to the end of your approved phased retirement period, contact your servicing retirement specialist. They will assist you in completing the necessary forms to enter full retirement. If you do not complete the required forms within 3 days after the end date of your phased retirement period, you will be considered voluntarily retired and separated from the agency on that basis. You will then have to apply directly to OPM to receive your full retirement annuity. Return to regular employment:Return of a phased retiree to regular employment is expected to be rare unless the employee is selected for a vacant position through the normal hiring process (e.g., a vacancy announcement). If you have not been selected for a vacant position, but wish to return to regular employment:Submit a written request through your immediate supervisor to the approving official that approved your phased retirement request and also complete and submit Sections A and B of Part 2a of form SF3116.You may submit such a request at any time. If doing so near the end of your phased retirement period, you should submit it at least 90 days before the end date. If your request is disapproved, you may not grieve this decision or appeal it to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Return to regular employment must be effected before the end of the phased retirement period. If you return to regular employment, you may not re-elect phased retirement in the future. What if you apply for and are offered a job at another Federal agency while participating in phased retirement?If you are transferring to another Federal agency during your period of phased retirement, you may either continue in phased retirement upon your transfer, with the approval of the gaining agency, or return to regular employment.Prior to the effective date of your transfer, you must complete Sections A and B of Part 3a of form SF 3116, Phased Employment/Phased Retirement Status Elections. Who to contact to request an estimate or gather more information on phased retirementContact the HRD Call Center at 301.763.4748, 1.800.871.5816 or HRD.Call.Center@ to get in touch with a retirement specialist based on your division/region.The following instructional pamphlets are available to assist you in the completion of the applications:CSRSSF2825 - Information and Instructions for Completing an Application for Phased Retirement under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS)SF2826 - Information and Instructions for Completing an Application for Full Retirement Status (from Phased Retirement) under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS)FERSSF3117 - Information and Instructions for Completing an Application for Phased Retirement under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS)SF3118 - Information and Instructions for Completing an Application for Full Retirement Status (from Phased Retirement) under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) ................
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