I was scheduled to retire. What happens if my retirement was not processed at the time of the shutdown? Does my retirement get processed or does it wait until operations resume? Your retirement will be processed following resumption of normal operations using your initial effective date. Additional related information may be found in the Office of Personnel Management guidance for shutdown furloughs. Did the National Finance Center (NFC) process or will they process any retirement packages that went to them prior to the lapse during the shutdown? No, NFC is not processing retirements during the shutdown. If a person retired last year from the IRS, are their pension payments affected every time there is a government shutdown? Also, is their health insurance affected after retirement if they are keeping health insurance through the federal government? According to the Office of Personnel Management website, the retirement fund is not impacted by a lapse in federal appropriation, so there is no delay or difference in benefits due to a government shutdown. What will happen to employees who would have retired while their agencies were shut down? For employees who, on or before the requested retirement date, submitted some notice of their desire to retire, agencies should, when the lapse in appropriations ends, make the retirement effective as of the date requested. The retirement request may be informal (such as a letter requesting retirement), and can be either mailed or personally submitted to the agency. Any additional required paperwork such as the formal retirement application form may be completed when the agency reopens. No time spent by the retiree in such actions after the effective date of the retirement may be considered as duty time, since the individual would no longer be an employee of the agency. There were people who were going to retire at the end of the year who received Time Off Awards (TOAs). They planned to use their TOA prior to their retirement, but now have been unable to do so because of the shutdown. Will their TOA be paid out with their annual leave upon retirement? Should they do a leave restoration for a TOA? It's not the employees' fault that they couldn't use their TOA. No, their TOA will not be paid out with their annual leave upon retirement as it is prohibited to make a cash payment for time-off awards. Detailed information concerning prohibition of cash payment for time-off awards is found in IRM 6.451.1, Exhibit 1-2. This is prohibited per 5 CFR 451.104(f) which states: "A time-off award granted under this subpart shall not be converted to a cash payment under any circumstances." Consequently, once the processing of a time-off award has been completed, a monetary payment shall not be made for any reason. No, they should not do a leave restoration for a TOA. If an employee separates from IRS with a time-off balance, the employee shall forfeit the unused hours and no monetary payment shall be made.
