Bipartisan Proposal to Recalculate Retirement Supplement for Divorced Annuitants Introduced in Senate
Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) on Tuesday introduced the Retirement Annuity Supplement Clarity Act to address the way the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) calculates the retirement annuity supplement for federal employees who have a divorce settlement dividing their Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) annuity.
The retirement supplement bridges the time between the onset of retirement and the age an annuitant qualifies for Social Security benefits. To receive the supplement, an employee must be eligible for an immediate, unreduced FERS retirement benefit. These employees are generally law enforcement officers and other federal employees eligible to retire early under special statutory provisions.
Since OPM reinterpreted the annuity supplement statute in 2016, OPM has divided annuity supplements the same way it divides a basic annuity in a divorce, regardless of the court order in the divorce proceeding. Because this division mainly impacts federal law enforcement officers, Senators Lankford and Sinema worked with the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) to develop their legislative proposal.
The Retirement Annuity Supplement Clarity Act would, according to a statement released by Senator Lankford’s office:
Clarify that OPM may specifically divide an annuity supplement as ordered in a divorce decree;
Repay certain annuitants who were retired on or before June 30, 2016, and whose annuity supplement was recomputed retroactively; and
Clarify that any collection of overpayment to former spouses to do an annuity supplement recalculation shall be waived.
“This bill will resolve a years-long problem so OPM has a clear directive for how to handle these payments, and it empowers OPM to consider court orders when divvying up annuity payments for divorced retirees,” Senator Lankford said. Praising federal law enforcement in Arizona, Senator Sinema said, “The government owes it to these brave officers to keep its promises and protect the retirement benefits they’ve earned.”
FLEOA President Larry Cosme lauded the bipartisan proposal, stating on behalf of the association, “We thank Senator Lankford and Senator Sinema for working with us to repeal OPM’s 2016 reinterpretation of the FERS statute. With a new Congress and Administration, passage of the RAS Clarity Act and restoring money wrongfully taken from retired LEOs will remain a top FLEOA priority.”