Federal
Criminal Investigators Association
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Surviving Spouse of Law Enforcement Officer Entitled to Full Benefit OPM is looking for surviving spouses of the law enforcement officers that have not filed claims for enhanced benefits. The surviving spouse of a law enforcement officer is entitled to a survivor annuity computed on the officer’s full benefit even if he or she died before completing 20 years of service or attaining age 50. To be eligible it is only necessary that the law enforcement officer have completed 18 months of qualifying service. This change in the rules is the result of decisions by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in two cases, Wassenaar v. OPM, 21 F.3d 1090 (Fed.Cir 1994) reh’r denied, August 23, 1994; and Moore v. OPM, 113 F. 3d 216 (Fed.Cir. 1997). Any survivor who has been receiving less should apply to OPM (Retirement and Insurance Service, P.O. Box 16, Washington, D.C. 20044) for full future payments and arrearages. Even if the survivor is no longer eligible because of remarriage, he or she is entitled to arrearages. If the survivor is deceased, the estate of the law enforcement officer may claim the unpaid amount. Anyone with questions should contact David U. Fierst, counsel for plaintiffs, at Stein, Mitchell & Mezines, 1140 Conn. Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20036, telephone: (202) 737-7777.
Are You Losing $500 per Year??? I f you have more than 20 years in law enforcement as a federal criminal investigator and are covered under the 6c retirement program, you are! You may be losing $500 a year or more in each year over 20 years that you remain on the job.Under the regulations governing the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) retirements, all federal employees under the regular retirement plan pay 7% of their salary into the retirement system as a contribution towards their retirement benefits. That amount has been "temporarily" increased under the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. After 10 years of government employment, employees under the regular plan get 2% a year for their retirement for all years in excess of 10 years. For this 2% a year, they still only pay in 7% of their salary. Federal law enforcement officers, covered under the "6c" section of CSRS, are required to contribute 7.5% of their salaries for all the years they are employed as law enforcement officers. In return for the 7.5% contribution, they will get a 2.5% credit towards their retirement benefit for each year of service through the first 20 years. Any years past 20 years will only get a credit of 2% a year. If, after 20 years, your pension reverts to exactly the same benefit that all other federal employees with more than 20 years on the job are receiving and all of these other employees are only paying 7% of their salary, then why are law enforcement officers paying 7.5% of their salary for the same benefit? All of you under the FERS pension plan, pay attention! You too are paying .5% more for a benefit that will end after you have 20 years in as a law enforcement officer. We need to do two things. We need to get the government to stop taking this extra .5% out of our paychecks and we need to recover the money that has been taken out of the paychecks of anyone who has or had more than 20 years on the job. FCIA is attempting to change this inequity with support of HR 1769, the Federal Employees Benefits Equity Act, being lobbied on Capital Hill by Don Baldwin, and by soliciting your individual support. Don’t stand there and take it! Do something about it! Write your Senators and Representative about this inequity.
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