Thousands of current federal employees placed in the wrong retirement plans since 1984 will have to wait until next year for Congress to consider a legislative fix to the problem.
Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on the Civil Service, had said during the summer that a bill drafted by the Office of Personnel Management and the subcommittee would be introduced by Oct. 15.
Now, Mica says OPM's proposal was "wholly inadequate," so legislation will have to be put off until Congress reconvenes in January.
The problem began more than a decade ago, when Congress created the Federal Employees Retirement System, which features a stock investment plan and a scaled-back pension benefit. On January 1, 1984 the old Civil Service Retirement System was closed to new enrollees. Those employed after this date were supposed to be placed in FERS, but some were not. Those employees, said Mica, lost retirement benefits, owed back taxes, and were denied the opportunity to invest in stock funds.
At a July 31 subcommittee hearing on the retirement foul-up, Mica asked OPM and the Office of Management and Budget to present their proposed solutions by Sept. 10. According to subcommittee spokesperson Ned Lynch, OPM presented a "concept report" on Sept. 9, at which point Mica asked OPM to prepare legislation by Oct. 15. OPM, however, did not give the subcommittee draft language until Oct. 20.
At a subcommittee meeting Oct. 23, Mica and subcommittee member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., agreed that OPM would need to revise the proposal to include a "make-whole" relief, which would ensure that all possible retirement errors that surfaced would be covered.
Doug Walker, OPM communications director, said that OPM completed everything in a "timely manner," but the agency had to wait for the Office of Management and Budget to reach a consensus with the Treasury Department and the Social Security Administration on how to structure the legislation.
"It took longer than we would have hoped to get OMB clearance," Walker said.
"Chairman Mica has made clear that he wants to get this thing done and OPM obviously wants to also, but back-biting and fingerpointing is not helping us get to a solution," Walker added.
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