Legislation would let FAA managers keep retirement benefits

A House lawmaker has introduced legislation that would allow air traffic controllers who take management positions at the Federal Aviation Administration to keep the extra retirement benefits they earned as air traffic controllers.

Under the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employment Retirement System, federal employees in safety-related occupations, including air traffic controllers, firefighters and law enforcement officers, get early retirement benefits. These workers are eligible to retire after 25 years of service, or at the age of 50, if they have at least 20 years of service The annuities for people in these occupations are higher as well.

However, when air traffic controllers become staff specialists or managers, they lose those benefits because they are no longer actively involved in directing air traffic.

The Air Traffic Retirement Reform Act of 2002 (H.R. 4760) introduced on May 16 by Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., would eliminate this rule and allow second-level managers to keep the extra retirement benefits. According to Oberstar, the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the bill would provide "fairness and parity between air traffic controllers and other federal safety professionals."

"This legislation will go a long way towards fixing the recruitment of new managers and supervisors into leadership roles in the FAA," said John Fisher, president of the FAA Conference Managers Association, which represents about 5,500 managers, supervisors and executives at the agency. "Right now it's a tremendous disincentive. People don't want to give up 14 percent of their retirement to take on more responsibility, and this essentially removes that barrier."

The bill was referred to the House Government Reform Committee.