Former Temporary Workers Could Catch Up on Pension Contributions Under Proposed Bill

Representatives Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Tom Cole (R-OK) recently introduced a bipartisan piece of legislation titled the Federal Retirement Fairness Act. This legislation would allow employees enrolled in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) who initially entered government as temporary workers to make catch-up retirement contributions to cover for the years when they were temps.

Rep. Kilmer explained, “Many federal employees begin their careers in temporary positions before transitioning to permanent status—so we need to have their backs. This bill will ensure that all federal workers . . . have the opportunity to retire on time, regardless of how they started their careers.”

Currently, federal workers who began as temporary employees had to choose between accepting a lower defined benefit pension annuity or working additional years to receive their full retirement allowance.

Several employee groups have already spoken out in support of the bill such as the American Federation of Government Employees AFL-CIO, the National Federation of Federal Employees, the Federal Managers Association, and the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association.

NARFE National President Ken Thomas said, “This bill would allow the once temporary, now permanent employee to make a deposit of employee contributions to make their temporary service creditable towards retirement.”