SOMEBODY THINKS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES DESERVE PROTECTION

SOMEBODY THINKS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES DESERVE PROTECTION

Federal employees keep the wheels of the federal sector turning.  They do a great service for the nation and a few people think federal employees deserve the same protection as Social Security recipients and veterans.  Federal employees have always been at risk of scams and subject to unscrupulous acts by individuals who target them because of perceived ”big” retirement checks.

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Senators James Lankford from Oklahoma and Heidi Heitkamp from North Dakota joined up to introduce and champion the -Representative Payee Fraud Prevention Act of 2015. The bill focuses on retirement fraud and misuse passed with full senate support.  The bill was approved on June 24, 2015, by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The bill gives the same kind of protection to federal employees that has long been afforded to Social Security recipients and veterans.  The bill categorizes the abuse of federal retirement funds as a felony.

The bill offers federal employees wherever they decide to live in their retirement years guaranteed protection of their retirement annuities.  Federal retirees will be confronted with a plethora of services toted as protection of the annuity or in many cases presented as strategies that can greatly expand the retiree’s annuity.  Many retirees have been scammed out of a great deal of money due to such abuses.  The bill fights to protect federal workers to ensure a safe and secure retirement.

If a federal retiree finds him/herself unable to handle their own business affairs, then the bill provides for either an individual or an organization to act on their behalf.  Before the passage of the Fraud Prevention Act federal retirees in need of someone to represent their financial interests or those persons receiving benefits who were minors or suffered from a mental disability had no protection from such abuse.  With the new bill now in effect, federal retirees and their families who have served their country can now have the same protection as recipients of Social Security and veterans.

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