Retiree Rehiring Provision Accepted; Others Not

During voting, the Senate set aside an amendment similar to one that had passed the House earlier to: replace the non-foreign area COLA system with locality pay; allow crediting of unused sick leave toward FERS annuity calculations; remove a disincentive against CSRS employees working part-time, and allow FERS employees to recapture service credit by repaying retirement contributions withdrawn at a break in service. Republicans objected, saying the added cost would exceed the amount available under the bill. Meanwhile, though, the Senate passed a separate amendment that would generally allow retirees to be rehired without an offset between their salaries and annuities for limited periods and in limited numbers, language that is not in the House version. The two chambers will have to resolve differences in a conference, with final voting not likely until the fall.