Three years after the law allowing phased retirement was enacted, only one agency is definitely known to have offered the arrangements to any of its employees: the Library of Congress, where about a dozen employees have started it or will soon.
While the pertinent law passed in July 2012, OPM took a full year afterward to put out proposed implementing rules and then another year passed before those rules were put in final form, with a delay of several more months, until last November, in the effective date.
That has prompted a letter to OPM from NARFE urging it to light a fire under other agencies, saying that many members delayed their retirements past their eligibility dates hoping to become phased retirees.
“These were long-serving, dedicated public servants who felt they had knowledge to pass on to their successors, and were not yet ready to leave civil service full time. Unfortunately, most of them have since retired, taking vast institutional knowledge with them, as their agency has not yet implemented phased retirement. This is counter to the intent of the law,” it said.
In phased retirement, those who meet certain age and service combinations—all involving at least 20 years of service—can change to half-time work and draw the proportionate salary plus half of their annuity entitlement without an offset. They must spend a fifth of their working time in mentoring type activities.
