Your Retirement Rights During A RIF

This post is an addendum to our prior post on your rights during a Reduction in Force (RIF) and focuses on your retirement options and rights. Please see the OPM RIF webpage and the other links in this article for additional information.

If you receive a RIF notice you retain any eligibility to retire from federal service either immediately, or via a deferred retirement. If you do not qualify for immediate retirement you are eligible for a deferred retirement annuity once you reach retirement age, if you have more than 5 years of credible service. If you do not qualify for immediate retirement you may also choose to receive a refund of your retirement deductions upon separation, but doing so relinquishes any future deferred annuity benefits you may be eligible for.

During a RIF you may also become eligible for discontinued service\involuntary retirement in addition to any eligibility for regular immediate voluntary retirement. Discontinued service\involuntary retirement is an immediate retirement option only available during a RIF or major reorganization with reduced age criteria. You can qualify for discontinued service retirement in a RIF if you are over 50 years of age with at least 20 years of creditable service, or if you are any age and have at least 25 years of creditable service. Under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) your annuity is not reduced in discontinued service retirement. Under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) your annuity is reduced by 2 percent/year if you are under age 55. This OPM document on discontinued retirement provides more details.

If you are eligible for either regular voluntary retirement and discontinued service retirement then you have the choice of which type to take. There are differences under CSRS (though not under FERS) between discontinued service retirement and regular voluntary retirement in reemployment rights. If you are rehired in the federal government after regular voluntary retirement then your reemployment pay is reduced by your annuity amount. If you are rehired in a position in the federal government which has retirement deductions after taking discontinued service retirement under CSRS your annuity is instead terminated and you acquire new retirement rights (see this OPM document).

As before, if you qualify for an immediate retirement during a RIF (either regular voluntary or discontinued service retirement), you may be eligible to carry over your Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) and other benefits. Just as before, taking a deferred retirement does not allow you to carry over these benefits. See these two documents for more details.

In a RIF, you also have the right to use any earned annual leave to remain on NASA's employment roll past your RIF effective date to reach retirement eligibility or retirement health benefit carryover eligibility for either regular voluntary or discontinued service retirement.

After any separation in a RIF you will be able to retain your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) account for account balances with more than $200. You will no longer be able to make employee contributions or receive agency contributions beyond your separation date but you can choose to keep the funds in the account to continue accruing earnings. See this fact sheet for more details.

Note, if you are eligible for an immediate retirement annuity either via a regular voluntary or discontinued retirement you are not entitled to severance pay in a RIF.

We encourage you to reach out to the NASA Shared Service Center (NSSC) for further questions. NASA HR is required during a RIF to inform employees of their retirement rights and options. In the event of a RIF we advise employees who may be eligible for immediate retirement (either voluntary or discontinued service) to reach out to HR for  information  and application procedures.

Finally, filing a retirement application or retiring does not impact your ability to appeal any improper RIF action. OPM states that "an employee can retire or file an application to retire without prejudice to their appeal rights after a decision to remove is received".