Finally a victory for FERS employees! In an end to a long and hard fought battle, FERS employees (postal and federal workers who fall under the Federal Employees Retirement System) will now receive credit for unused sick leave when they retire. By a 68-29 vote margin Thursday, the Senate approved a compromise version of the 2010 Defense Authorization bill which includes the new benefit. The measure, which includes a number of pay and retirement provisions (see below) was previously approved in a House-Senate conference on Oct. 7 and adopted in full by the House the following day. Click here to see how your senators voted.
Mirroring a benefit already enjoyed by Civil Service Retirement System employees (CSRS), the new provision allows FERS-covered workers to receive a 50 percent credit for unused sick leave until Dec. 31, 2013 then beginning Jan. 1, 2014, they will begin receiving full credit.
President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law although there is some concern over the fact that the legislation contains an additional $130 billion in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan including $7.5 billion earmarked for training of Afghan security forces.
The bill also includes:
Mirroring a benefit already enjoyed by Civil Service Retirement System employees (CSRS), the new provision allows FERS-covered workers to receive a 50 percent credit for unused sick leave until Dec. 31, 2013 then beginning Jan. 1, 2014, they will begin receiving full credit.
President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law although there is some concern over the fact that the legislation contains an additional $130 billion in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan including $7.5 billion earmarked for training of Afghan security forces.
The bill also includes:
- A provision that would allow employees who choose to work part-time toward the end of their careers to use a higher salary figure in calculations for how the reduced work factors into their retirement benefits.
- A provision that would move workers in Hawaii, Alaska, the Virgin Islands and other U.S. territories from cost-of-living adjustments to a locality-pay system; Territorial COLAs would be applied differently to postal employees than to other federal workers. The T-COLAs would not be taxed and would not be credited towards retirement; for other federal employees these earnings would be taxed and would be credited toward retirement.
- A provision that would allow FERS employees who left and then returned to government service to redeposit savings in the retirement system and earn credit for years they had previously worked.
To read the full story at APWU.Org
