The Office of Personnel Management on January 27 issued
rules in the Federal Register explaining how an agency
requests authority from OPM to offer buyouts for
restructuring. The regulations: state that agencies
must inform employees returning from military leave of
any buyout offers they may have missed while on military
leave; explain how in exceptional circumstances an
agency that is hiring a former employee who previously
received a buyout may request that OPM waive the general
requirement that the individual repay the incentive if
reemployed in the government within five years of
receiving the payment; reiterate that personal services
contracts are considered reemployment for purposes of
the repayment requirement; and state that an individual
can be eligible for a buyout with three years of
continuous government service, removing a requirement
in the interim policy that required the service to be
with the agency offering the buyout.
