Kilmer, Cole Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Help Shipyard Workers, Other Federal Workers Retire On-Time

Statement

Today, Representatives Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Tom Cole (R-OK) introduced the Federal Retirement Fairness Act. This bill ensures that federal employees who started their careers as temporary workers -- meaning they did not have the ability to make retirement contributions -- are granted the opportunity to make catch-up retirement contributions so that they can retire on time. Without this option, workers are faced with an unfair choice: leave the federal service without full retirement benefits or work longer than expected to obtain full retirement benefits.

"Many federal employees begin their careers in temporary positions before transitioning to permanent status -- so we need to have their backs," said Rep. Kilmer. "This bill will ensure that all federal workers, from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and beyond, have the opportunity to retire at the same time, regardless of how they started their careers."

"I am proud to join in introducing the Federal Retirement Fairness Act that allows federal workers, first hired under temporary status, to receive retirement credit for the entirety of their government service," said Rep. Cole. "The existing policy provides no benefit to federal employees or the federal government, but the buy-back option gives workers additional credit toward retirement which is an option they currently do not have available."

Prior to 1989, the Office of Personnel Management allowed federal employees to make catch-up payments to buy-back years during which they did not contribute to their retirement accounts. This authority was phased out when the government switched to a new federal employee retirement system.

Today, workers at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, at Tinker Air Force Base, and at federal facilities across the country who started as temporary employees and then converted to full-time employment, are now finding that they may have to work years longer than their peers to receive the same retirement benefits. The Federal Retirement Fairness Act would restore the authorities that allow employees hired since 1989 to buy-back the time they served as temporary federal employees under the same terms that were in place prior to 1989.

It is important that all federal employees have the freedom of choice to retire on time after their years of service if they have made the necessary contributions to do so. This bill ensures that all employees, regardless of their initial hiring status, are granted the same opportunity for the same amount of work.

The Federal Retirement Fairness Act is supported by the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers (IFPTE), National Federation of Federal Employees, National Federation of Federal Employees Forest Service Council, Federal Managers Association (FMA), National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, American Federation of Government Employees AFL-CIO, and National Association of Letter Carriers AFL-CIO.

Source