United States

Office of Personnel Management

Retirement and Insurance Service

Benefits Administration Letter

Number: 97-110	Date: October 9, 1997

Subject:	SF 2803, Application to Make Deposit or Redeposit (CSRS), and

SF 3108, Application to Make Service Credit Payment for Civilian

Service (FERS)

Purpose:

The purpose of this letter is to ask agencies to verify that the employee is placed under the correct retirement system and to remind agencies to complete ALL portions of the forms accurately.

Background:

We are seeing an increase in the number of applications to make service credit payments for employees who are not under the correct retirement system. Chapter 10 of the CSRS and FERS Handbook for Personnel and Payroll Offices gives detailed information about how to determine whether an employee should be covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), or CSRS Offset.

When an agency erroneously certifies that a FERS employee is covered by CSRS, the billing the employee receives if often far more than the employee actually owes. This can cause financial hardship for the employee. When the error is discovered, we can only return the excess the employee has paid. There is no provision in the law for us to pay interest to the employee even though the Government was wrong.

Agency Role:

Agency personnel should pay particular attention to the following specific items before submitting an SF 2803/3108 to the Office of Personnel Management:

1. Complete the entire reverse side of the application.

2. Provide the tour of duty for all part-time service.

3. Provide the actual number of days worked for When Actually Employed (WAE) service.

4. List the service history for all temporary periods of employment in the space provided on the reverse side of the application. (Standard Form 50's should only be sent when specifically requested by the Office of Personnel Management.)

5. Be sure that FERS employees know that temporary employment subject to the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA service) which was performed after 1/1/89 is generally not creditable under FERS. (Exceptions include Senate Employee Child Care Center service, Peace Corps/ Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), and service creditable under the Foreign Service Pension System.)

6. Under Section B question #3b, of the FERS application, SF 3108, we also need the date that CSRS deductions began for any covered employment prior to the FERS election.

Maximize Service to Recipients:

The goal of the Office of Personnel Management is to provide accurate and timely service to all customers. Achievement of this goal in processing these applications depends on the quality of the information we receive from the agencies. Thank you for your assistance.

Sidney M. Conley

Assistant Director

for Retirement Programs