Federal employees eyeing retirement in select agencies could take buyouts worth up to $25,000 under legislation passed in the final days of the 105th Congress. In many other agencies, employees can take advantage of early retirement offers.
The Energy Department received buyout authority under the 1999 Defense authorization bill. DOE employees who qualify will be able to take buyouts through Jan. 1, 2001.
Congress also gave buyout authority to two legislative branch agencies as part of the 1999 Legislative appropriations bill. The Architect of the Capitol and the Government Printing Office can offer buyouts before Oct. 1, 2001.
In the omnibus 1999 spending bill that covered half a trillion dollars in federal programs, Congress approved buyouts through Dec. 31, 1998, for National Park Service employees at the Denver Service Center and the Presidio and Golden Gate National Recreation Areas.
Several other agencies already have buyout authority. Earlier this year, Congress gave the IRS buyout authority through Jan. 1, 2003. The Defense Department has buyout authority through the end of fiscal 2001, while the Central Intelligence Agency can offer buyouts until Sept. 30, 1999. Both the Agriculture Department and NASA have buyout authority until Sept. 30, 2000.
Congress established governmentwide buyout authority during the first half of the Clinton Administration, but that authority ran out Dec. 30, 1997. Office of Personnel Management Director Janice Lachance has said in recent addresses that OPM will push for permanent buyout authority across government.
"This does not mean agencies would have to, or would want to, offer buyouts continually," Lachance told participants at the joint annual conference of the National Academy of Public Administration and Public Administration Forum in June. "It means this humane and economically efficient downsizing tool would be available without a case-by-case legislative process."
Meanwhile, agencies without buyout authority can give employees early out offers. Federal employees who opt for early outs get smaller pensions than those who qualify for regular retirement. Employees under the Civil Service Retirement System have their pensions reduced by 2 percent for each year they are under age 55 (there is no reduction for Federal Employees Retirement System enrollees). To qualify for early retirement, an employee must have 25 years of service regardless of age or 20 years of service and be at least 50 years old.
OPM has granted early out authority to the following agencies through Sept. 30, 1999:
- Administrative Office of the United States Courts
- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
- Defense Department
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- Federal Highway Administration
- Food Safety and Inspection Service
- General Services Administration
- Health Resources and Services Administration
- Housing and Urban Development Department
- Indian Health Service
- Interior Department
- NASA
- National Gallery of Art
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation
- Office of Personnel Management
- Railroad Retirement Board
- Securities and Exchange Commission
- Social Security Administration
- Transportation Department Office of the Secretary
- United States Information Agency
- Veterans Affairs Department
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Labor Relations Board have early out authority through Jan. 31, 1999. The Central Intelligence Agency and the Farm Service Agency can offer early outs until Dec. 31, 1998.
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