Office of the General Counsel

OPM Contact: Jo-Ann Chabot

A retired employee filed a claim for severance pay which is denied for the reasons stated below. The claimant said that, after working at one federal agency for 29 years and two months in the competitive service, she accepted a limited appointment with a second federal agency. She retired from federal service after working at the second agency for approximately six months. According to the claimant, agency officials told her that retirement was her only option, and a buy out was not available to her even though the agency had buy out authority. The claimant was 61 years of age when she retired and receives her annuity under the Civil Service Retirement System.

Section 5595(a)(2)(B)(iv) of title 5, United States Code (U.S.C.), and the Office of Personnel Management regulation at 5 C.F.R. 550.704(b)(5), exclude from eligibility for severance pay employees who, at the time of their involuntary separation from federal service, have fulfilled the requirements to receive an immediate annuity. According to 5 U.S.C.  8336(b), an employee in the Civil Service Retirement System is eligible to receive an annuity after reaching 60 years of age and completing 20 years of service. Therefore, the claimant was not eligible to receive severance pay when she retired, or as an alternative to her retirement from federal service.

Finally, the claimant also suggests that her retirement resulted from age discrimination. The Office of Personnel Management does not have the authority to consider or adjudicate complaints of employment discrimination allegedly committed by the employees of another federal agency. If the claimant wishes to pursue this matter, she should contact equal employment opportunity officials in the agency where she was employed at the time of her retirement.