Other Benefit Ideas in Progress

Congress also is in the midst of considering several benefit changes, most of which have been floated for many years, and some of which have been tied to the DoD bill. The House has added language to let FERS employees credit unused sick leave toward retirement and to recapture service credit when returning after a break in service and after withdrawing retirement contributions by paying back the money, as well as language to change a provision of CSRS retirement law that discourages part-time work. The Senate has refused to consider those ideas several times already this year for various reasons but meanwhile has passed language to loosen the rules on rehiring retirees without offsets—a provision that the House has shown no interest in. The Senate also has not acted on a House-passed bill to grant four weeks of paid parental leave time, while numerous other proposals, including one to make domestic partners eligible for spousal benefits under health insurance, retirement and other benefit programs, remain at the committee level.