Veterans and Military Families Caucus

Bill Changes FERS Sick Leave & Redeposit, CSRS Annuity Calculations, Ends NSPS for DoD Workers, Changes for Military Service Members and Families

WASHINGTON – Calling it a “long-overdue major victory for our dedicated federal employees, retirees, military personnel and their families,” Congressman Gerry Connolly cheered final passage of the defense authorization bill in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday.  The bill now goes to President Obama, who is expected to sign it into law.

Connolly said the massive defense bill contains a number of positive changes in laws affecting federal employees’ sick leave, annuity calculations, redeposit provisions for employees returning to the federal workforce, and stronger whistleblower protections.  The legislation also eliminates the National Security Personnel System for Department of Defense employees and provides a number of improvements in health care and housing programs for military service members and their families.

Connolly, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce that championed many of the new improvements in federal employee benefits and passed them in early March, praised the cooperative efforts of Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, Subcommittee Chairman Stephen Lynch, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Congressmen Jim Moran and Chris Van Hollen to get the federal employee provisions included in the bill.

“This is a case of try and try again until you succeed,” Connolly said. “We added these provisions for federal employees and retirees into the tobacco reform bill passed by the House, only to see them stripped out by the Senate.  So we added them again, this time to the defense authorization bill passed by the House, and the Senate removed them again.  However, this time the House was able to prevail on these issues and keep them in the final bill.  It is a significant victory that will provide long-overdue benefits for our federal workforce, our retirees, and our military.”

Connolly said the provisions in the bill benefiting federal employees and retirees  also make important changes to the federal retirement system that will enhance the retirement systems efficiency and effectiveness as a recruiting and management tool at a time when the government needs to be attracting the best and the brightest to the federal workforce.

Connolly said the legislation includes the following provisions:

Federal employees and retirees:

·         FERS Sick Leave – Allows employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to receive credit for unused sick leave toward their retirement annuity, as is currently the case for employees covered by the older Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).  This provision also reduces the incentive for employees to use excess sick leave as they approach retirement. OPM estimates the current “use it or lose it” system results in $68 million in lost productivity each year.

·         FERS Redeposit – This provision, sponsored by Connolly, allows returning federal employees, who previously left federal service, to repay a deposit to the civil service trust fund, with interest, in order to be able to combine their past and new federal service for future annuity service.

·         CSRS Part-time Service – Allows CSRS workers to phase-down to part-time status at the end of their careers without reducing their final pensions.

·         NSPS – Terminates the Department of Defense’s pay-for-performance personnel system, universally-hated by DoD employees, and restore employees to the federal General Schedule (GS) pay system.

·         Ensures that these provisions are PAYGO neutral, resulting in approximately $258 million in deficit reduction over 10 years.

Military service members and families:

·         Provides a 3.4 percent military pay raise

·         Expands TRICARE health coverage for reserve component members and their families for 180 days prior to mobilization

·         Prohibits fee increases on TRICARE inpatient care for one year

·         Provides $2.2 billion for family housing programs

·         Adds $276 million to support the Housing Assistance Program that helps service members forced to sell their homes at a significant loss

·         Provides travel and transportation for three designated persons, including non-family members, to visit hospitalized service members

·         Enables seriously injured service members to use a non-medical attendant for help with daily living or during travel for medical treatment

·         Provides $30 million for Impact Aid funding, with an additional $14 million for BRAC-affected areas like Northern Virginia and an additional $5 million for military children with severe disabilities

·         Establishes an internship pilot program within federal agencies for military spouses and directs DOD to establish an undergraduate nurse training program to help alleviate the shortage of military nurses

Connolly said the legislation contains many other provisions affecting national defense issue.