Phased Retirement Rules Still Pending

Another issue requiring a rules-making process—whose duration seems to be irritating growing numbers of federal employees—is phased retirement. A law enacted in mid-2012 created authority for agencies to offer retirement-eligible employees to switch to half-time work with a prorated annuity that would not be offset against the salary, as is done to rehired annuitants (with some exceptions). However, OPM did not propose implementing rules until last June, and although it set a goal of finalizing them by the end of 2013, they remain only in proposed form and thus the option is not actually available yet. Many employees have expressed interest in it and argue that it would make good sense to agencies as well. Some employees have been delaying their retirement decisions as they wait to see if phased retirement might be available and preferable for them—and patience apparently is wearing thin for many.