Congress once again has its sights set on making changes to federal benefits in more ways than one.
Under one reintroduced bill, former temporary and seasonal federal employees would get a chance to make “catch-up” contributions in their retirement accounts.
Reps. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and David Valadao (R-Calif.) reintroduced the Federal Retirement Fairness Act last week.
Even though many temporary workers eventually transition to permanent employment in the government, seasonal and temporary federal employees currently don’t have the opportunity to make retirement contributions during their time spent in their previous roles.
Several years ago, lawmakers said they noticed that formerly temporary workers had to work longer than their colleagues in government to receive the same retirement benefits. Kilmer first introduced the bill in 2019.
Decades ago, the Office of Personnel Management did let these federal employees make catch-up contributions, Kilmer said. But Congress eliminated the option when the federal government transitioned to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) in the 1980s.
The Federal Retirement Fairness Act aims to give former seasonal and temporary federal employees, such as wildland firefighters and park rangers, who convert to full-time government employment a chance to make catch-up retirement contributions to be able to retire on time.
So far, there is no Senate companion bill for the House legislation.
Unions and federal organizations, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the Federal Managers Association (FMA) and the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) are supportive of the bipartisan House bill.
“These dedicated workers face a choice — leave the federal service without full retirement benefits or work longer than their peers to obtain their full retirement benefits,” NFFE National President Randy Erwin said in a statement. “For workers in physically demanding or dangerous jobs, this is a choice between two bad options — retire without the security you thought you would have, or put your health and safety at risk by working a few years longer than the rest of your peers.”
Beyond the Federal Retirement Fairness Act, here are three other bills to watch.
Greater death benefits for civilian federal employees
Both House and Senate lawmakers are taking another shot at increasing death benefits for the civilian federal workforce.
The legislation, which Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), and Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), reintroduced earlier this month, would update the benefit amounts for families or survivors of civilian federal employees who die while performing job duties.
Families of federal employees who are killed on duty receive a one-time benefit payment and a payment to help cover funeral expenses.
Sinema and other bipartisan co-sponsors said the Honoring Civil Servants Killed in the Line of Duty Act would bring death benefits for civilian federal employees in line with the benefit amounts that military members already receive.
Right now, eligible survivors of Foreign Service and military members who die either while on active duty or while serving in certain reserve statuses receive a one-time, tax-free payment of $100,000, regardless of the cause of death.
But for civilian federal workers, the amount included in death gratuities has not been updated since 1997, and coverage for funeral expenses has not changed since 1966.
Currently, survivors of federal employees who died while performing work duties receive $10,000 in a one-time benefit, as well as $800 to cover funeral expenses.
If the bill is passed, the benefit amounts would increase ten-fold. Survivors would receive $100,000 in the death benefit payment and another $8,800 to go toward funeral expenses.
“This gap in the law has devastating consequences for family members who must now face financial and emotional strain at the same time,” Larry Cosme, national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said in a statement. “This legislation solves that problem to ensure all survivors of federal employees killed in the line of duty are entitled to equal and robust financial benefits to honor their lost public servants.”
The bill also aims to prevent the death benefit amounts from becoming outdated by including a provision to add an automatic cost-of-living adjustment to the death and funeral benefits.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) plans to mark up the legislation Wednesday.
Long-time effort to…
Read More: Retirement changes for former seasonal feds, higher death benefits and other