The Office of Personnel Management has announced that it will give federal agencies flexibility to re-hire retirees to help deal with the Year 2000 computer crisis.
OPM Director Janice Lachance has determined that the Y2K problem is an "unusual circumstance" and therefore will allow waivers of the reduction of pensions for re-employed retired military officers and waivers of the reduction of pay for rehired civilian annuitants.
"We want to make it easier to re-employ retirees who have the programming skills and systems knowledge that agencies may need," Lachance wrote in a memo to department and agency heads.
Under normal circumstances, re-employed federal retirees and military officers are required by law to take a reduction in pay or benefits if they want to return to government.
"It's a tool to not allow them to double-dip," according to OPM staffing specialist Larry Lorenz.
OPM cannot provide a blanket waiver of the law's requirements, but Lachance said OPM will respond within one business day to individual agency requests for waivers.
Lachance also encouraged agencies to exercise premium pay authority. This means that if an agency head determines that an emergency involving a direct threat to life or property exists (in this case the Y2K problem), then any employee performing work in connection with the emergency must be paid overtime, night, Sunday and holiday pay.
Lachance said that by exercising this authority, agencies will be able to ensure employees who perform significant amounts of overtime work related to Y2K problems will be appropriately compensated.
OPM is taking its Y2K-related actions, Lachance said, "because people look to the federal government to take the lead in this crucial issue."
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