The Senate last night unanimously agreed to legislation introduced by Senators Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) that provides relief to federal employees who were placed in the wrong retirement system during the government's transition to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) from the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) in the mid-1980s.

It is estimated that anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 employees, retirees, survivors, and their families face pension coverage problems through no fault of their own. Under current law, federal agencies have no choice but to correct a retirement coverage error when it is discovered, effectively forcing employees into a new retirement plan. The automatic correction of such an error may have a harmful impact on an employee's financial ability to plan for retirement.

"Our bill provides a reasonable solution in affording misclassified federal workers, former employees, retirees, and survivors with equitable relief from these retirement coverage errors. It gives those affected a choice between corrected retirement coverage and the coverage the employee expected to receive, without disturbing Social Security coverage law," said Akaka, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services, with jurisdiction over civil service issues.

The bill was adopted by the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs on August 3, 1999, and is supported by the Office of Personnel Management, the Administration, and the two largest federal employee unions, the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union. The unions, in letters of support to members of the Senate, indicated they were encouraged by the bipartisan effort that went into the crafting this bill.

The differences between S. 1232, as amended by Akaka and Cochran, and a similar House measure must be reconciled in a House-Senate conference.