Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) Open Season Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998 09:05:58 -0400 To: "USGS Employees" From: " All Employee email, , " Subject: DOI ALL-EMPLOYEE DIST: FERS OPEN SEASON (NOTE TO SUPERVISORS: Please ensure that all employees without E-Mail access receive a paper copy of this All-Employee distribution.) June 2, 1998 MEMORANDUM To: All DOI Employees From: Carolyn Cohen Director of Personnel Policy Subject: Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) Open Season If you are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), including CSRS Offset, you can change from the CSRS to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) during a special "open season" that has been authorized by the FERS Open Enrollment Act of 1987. In addition, certain employees who are covered by Social Security only may also elect FERS coverage. The open season will run from July 1, 1998 through December 31, 1998. Your decision whether to stay with CSRS or transfer to FERS is important, and you need to consider it carefully. If you elect FERS, it is an irrevocable decision that cannot be changed, so you should make every effort to understand which system is better suited to your personal situation. You need not rush; the period for choosing FERS lasts until December 31, 1998. The CSRS and FERS are both good retirement systems. They are also very different systems, and you shouldn't automatically assume that one is better for you than the other. Both systems allow you to participate in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), but FERS provides for matching Government funds. The FERS Transfer Handbook - A Guide to Making Your Decision The FERS Transfer Handbook has been prepared to give you information you need about CSRS and FERS so that you can decide whether to stay with CSRS or change to FERS. You should read the Transfer Handbook before you make your decision. If you have access to the Internet, an electronic version of the Transfer Handbook is available on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) web site at www.opm.gov/fers_election. This version will walk you through the Transfer Handbook, leading you to the most pertinent sections first, depending on your individual circumstances. If you do not have access to the Internet, OPM will be providing agencies with the electronic Transfer Handbook on CD-ROM in the near future. A copy of the handbook can also be obtained from your servicing personnel office. Both the FERS election web site and the CD-ROM have a computer Transfer Model that you can use to compare benefits under the two systems. The Model will take the individual information that you enter and, by using either the standard economic assumptions OPM has built into the Model or assumptions that you choose, project your benefits and costs under both systems. Social Security Earnings Information Social Security coverage is part of FERS. In making your decision whether to transfer to FERS, you may want to find out how much Social Security coverage you already have. You may know this already, or you may have received a Personal Earnings and Benefits Estimate Statement (PEBES) from the Social Security Administration (SSA), which lists your past Social Security covered earnings and provides an estimate of your future Social Security benefits. These earnings can be used in the FERS transfer model to produce a more accurate comparison of benefits. It's important to remember that the estimate you receive from SSA does not take into consideration the effect of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). Contact your servicing personnel office for information about the WEP. If you have not received a PEBES from SSA, you may request one on-line through their Internet web site, www.ssa.gov. You may also request one by completing form SSA-7004 that you can obtain from your servicing personnel office or from your local Social Security office. Making Your Decision If you decide to transfer to FERS, take your completed election form to your servicing personnel office. If you transfer to FERS, your transfer will be effective on the first day of the first pay period after you turn in your election form. An election of FERS coverage is made on SF 3109, Election of Coverage. Your servicing personnel office will provide this form to you. It is also available on OPM's web site. If you decide to stay in CSRS, you may change your decision at any time during the open season by submitting an election form by December 31, 1998. If you elect to transfer to FERS, you may change you election by rescinding it before the date it becomes effective. Once it becomes effective, however, you cannot change an election to transfer to FERS. Special Thrift Savings Plan Election Opportunity If you transfer to FERS, you will have 30 days from the date of your transfer to make a new TSP election. During these 30 days, you may start, change, or stop your TSP contributions. This is an extra opportunity which is in addition to the regular TSP open seasons. Former Spouse's Consent to Election Do you have a former spouse to whom a qualifying court order, on file at OPM, awards a portion of your annuity or survivor benefits based on your Federal service under CSRS? If so, you must get your former spouse's consent to elect FERS coverage unless your former spouse remarried before age 55. You can get a copy of SF 3110, Former Spouse's Consent to FERS Election from your servicing personnel office. This is also where you should go for instructions on how to find out if a court order is on file at OPM, how to request a waiver of the consent requirement (granted under very limited circumstances), and how to request an extension of the election deadline in order to modify a court order. Where to Go for Additional Information If you have questions that aren't answered by the Transfer Handbook or OPM's web site, you may contact your servicing personnel office. They can also assist you with using the Transfer Model if you have questions. If you do not know where your servicing personnel office is, your bureau headquarters benefits officer will be able to give you a contact number. A list of bureau contacts is listed at the end of this memo. There will be a satellite broadcast sponsored by OPM on June 24 that will compare and contrast FERS and CSRS benefits, discuss Social Security benefits that some employees might gain by transferring to FERS, cover Thrift Savings Plan issues of interest to people with the opportunity to transfer, and demonstrate use of the FERS Transfer Model. The broadcast will include representatives from OPM, the Social Security Administration and the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. Additional information about this broadcast and the availability of video tapes for those who are unable to view it will be coming from your bureau. Remember, only you can make your transfer decision. We can give you information, but we can't make a decision for you or tell you what we think you should do -- it's your decision. Bureau Headquarter Benefits Contacts Ellie Hasse BOR 303-445-2642 ehasse@do.usbr.gov Becky Wietz FWS & SOL 202-208-4562 rebekah_wietz@mail.fws.gov Cindy Wylie USGS 703-648-7429 cwylie@usgs.gov Margie Krom MMS & OS 703-787-1439 margie_krom@mms.gov Barbara Chadwick OSM & BIA 202-208-2697 bchadwic@osmre.gov Debbie BLM 202-208-4695 desposit@wo.blm.gov Stephanie Prettyweasel OIEP 505-766-3564 stephanie_prettyweasel@ios.doi.gov Deborah Martin NPS 202-219-9233 deborah_martin@nps.gov