FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 14, 1999 CONTACT: Sharon J. Wells (202) 606-2402 sjwells@opm.gov New Federal Retirees Reap Benefits of OPM Modernization Effort Washington, D.C. - The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has implemented the first of several planned modernization efforts to streamline retirement processing and improve service to new federal retirees. "Providing new retirees with a complete, personalized, and easy to understand benefits summary is another step in our commitment to provide top-quality customer service," said OPM Director Lachance. Beginning September 1, 1999, each new retiree will receive a plain language, personalized booklet that describes their benefits in detail. This new benefits summary will provide information on topics such as their monthly benefit, health and life insurance coverage, survivor benefits, tax information, and other subjects. Other retirement modernization initiatives underway include a comprehensive benefits calculator for Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) retirements, and a decision tool for federal agency use that will reduce the possibility of placing a new employee into the wrong retirement system. OPM's web site, http://www.opm.gov, contains a wealth of information on the retirement modernization efforts, hot topics, frequently asked questions, a calendar of events, Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) publications and Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) publications. OPM administers the Civil Service Retirement and Federal Employees Retirement Systems, which provide retirement benefits to 90,000 new federal retirees each year, and death benefits for their surviving family members. There are over 2.3 million retirees and family members currently receiving benefits from OPM. End

Web page created 14 September 1999