In 2021, the Social Security Administration (SSA) resumed its tradition of providing early retirement to qualified employees. However, preliminary figures indicate that the agency had very few takers.
According to emails obtained by Federal News Network and confirmed by the agency, the SSA offered a round of early retirement prospects earlier this autumn.
This year, approximately 6,800 SSA employees were eligible for early retirement. To date, around 175 employees, or little more than 2% of those eligible, have accepted the offer, according to an email sent by an agency spokesperson to Federal News Network.
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In recent years, SSA has offered early terminations on multiple occasions. The agency normally announces an early-out option once a year, which “lets us rebalance resources to meet the changing service demands of the American people,” said an SSA spokesperson.
However, unlike in previous years, the Biden administration’s vaccination requirement adds a new dimension to the opportunity. Federal employees had until November 22 to get fully vaccinated or file a medical or religious exemption request, and most SSA employees complied with the vaccine mandate.
However, the timing of this year’s early-retirement window gave individuals eligible for an early departure some flexibility concerning complying with the vaccination obligation, according to the SSA.
All employees are expected to meet the vaccination requirement. However, they have reached an agreement with labor partners that any employee who notifies the management in writing of their intention to retire/separate by December 31, 2021, won’t be subject to enforcement of the requirement, the SSA spokesperson said.
According to data provided by the Office of Management and Budget last week, at least 90.3% of the SSA workforce has received at least one vaccine dose, and 97.7% of the agency’s employees were either partially vaccinated or had a medical or religious exemption request pending or approved.
The SSA’s offer doesn’t include additional monetary incentives, as has become usual with early retirements from agencies in recent years.
Employees need to have 20 years of creditable service and be at least 50 years old to be eligible for early retirement or have at least 25 years of service time at any age.
Employees have to be serving under a non-time-limited appointment, have been continuously on SSA’s rolls since at least 31 days before November 20, 2020, and employees cannot be the subject of an involuntary separation decision due to misconduct or unsatisfactory performance, according to the SSA’s early retirement notice, obtained by Federal News Network. In addition, Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) workers must have worked in a CSRS post for at least one year out of the one year immediately before retirement. This last condition does not apply to employees of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).
To maintain their federal health insurance coverage upon retirement, eligible personnel must have been covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program for at least the final five years of their government service.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will grant pre-approved waivers to employees who have been continuously covered under the FEHB program since the beginning date of the agency’s latest early out authority (December 16, 2020) and retire through voluntary early retirement during the early out period, as stated in the SSA notices.
Early retirement was made available by the Social Security Administration (SSA) in 2012, 2014, 2017, and 2019. Around 3-4% of those eligible accepted the early retirement option in the past.
Around 27% of the SSA staff will be able to retire by 2022, as stated by a 2019 Government Accountability Office report.
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