How to Handle Retirement Delays

Once again, the Office of Personnel Management is trying to speed up its retirement claims processing operation.

GovExec Retirement Planning columnist Tammy Flanagan of the National Institute for Transition Planning has addressed this issue several times in recent years. In April 2008, she noted some of the reasons (outside of staffing and computer modernization issues at OPM) that retirement claims can be delayed:

• You retired under the Civil Service Retirement System-Offset system (especially if you are 62 or older).
• During an open season or upon being rehired into government, you transferred to the Federal Employees Retirement System from CSRS or CSRS Offset.
• Your divorce decree provides retirement benefits, a survivor annuity, or both to your former spouse.
• Before your retirement, you paid a military deposit or a civilian service credit deposit and the record of that payment was not submitted with your retirement.
• During part of your career, you worked on a less than full time schedule.
• Your retirement was processed as disability rather than "optional voluntary."
• You worked as a law enforcement officer, firefighter or air traffic controller.
• A period of your career has not been properly documented.
• There is a question as to whether or not you are in the proper retirement system.

And in January 2009, Tammy offered some advice for those likely to face a waiting game at retirement:

• It pays to take responsibility for your retirement by knowing as much as you can about what is involved in the process of computing your benefit, filling out the forms, and what to expect.
• Sometimes your agency might be the cause of the delay. Be sure to know who to contact at your agency if you have not received any information from OPM within six weeks after your separation.
• Have some patience and some extra cash available. This is why so many employees save up their annual leave prior to retirement. The payment for accrued annual leave should arrive within six weeks of your retirement. It can provide a financial cushion while you wait for your retirement claim to be finalized.