A bill has been introduced in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that continues a trend in recent months to make it easier for agencies to bring back annuitants for temporary work without offsetting their annuities.
Sponsors of the legislation, committee ranking member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, workforce subcommittee ranking member George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Herb Kohl, D-Wis., who chairs the Special Committee on Aging said it would help provide oversight of stimulus-related efforts as well as help the government respond more generally to an aging workforce with plenty of needs to fill.
Reemployment under the bill would be limited to a total of 65 days in the first six months following retirement, 130 days in any 12-month period, and a total of 390 days for any one employee. Rehired annuitants would not be considered employees, nor would they get credits toward retirement benefits for the additional work.
"This legislation would prove vital as the federal government loses many of its skilled, experienced, senior employees," said Collins, adding, "Nearly 4,500 federal retirees have returned to work on a full-time basis . . . legislation would provide agencies with needed flexibility to bring retirees’ experience back into the federal workforce for limited-time, which is especially needed now given the expertise the government will need to effectively implement the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009."