U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Glossary of Terms

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Accidental Death

Death caused solely through violent, external, and accidental means. This has meaning under FEGLI if, as a direct result of the bodily injuries, independently of all other causes, you die within 1 year of the accidental injury.

Accidental Death & Dismemberment Exclusions

The Office of Federal Employees'; Group Life Insurance (OFEGLI) will not pay AD&D benefits if your death or loss in any way results from, is caused by, or is contributed to by:

• physical or mental illness;
• the diagnosis of or treatment of a physical or mental illness;
• ptomaine or bacterial infection (however, OFEGLI will pay AD&D benefits if the loss is caused by an accidentally sustained external wound);
• a war (declared or undeclared), any act of war, or any armed aggression against the United States, in which nuclear weapons are actually being used;
• a war (declared or undeclared), any act of war, or any armed aggression or insurrection in which you are in actual combat at the time bodily injuries are sustained;
• suicide or attempted suicide;
• injuring yourself on purpose;
• illegal or illegally obtained drugs that you administer to yourself;
• driving a vehicle while intoxicated, as defined by the laws of the jurisdiction in which you were operating the vehicle.

Accidental Dismemberment

Bodily injuries caused solely through violent, external and accidental means. This has meaning under FEGLI if, as a direct result of the bodily injuries, independently of all other causes, you lose your limb(s) or eyesight in one or both eyes within 1 year of the accidental injury.

• Loss of hand means loss by severance at or above the wrist joint, or equivalent loss, as determined by OFEGLI.
• Loss of foot means loss by severance at or above the ankle joint, or equivalent loss, as determined by OFEGLI.
• Loss of sight means total and permanent absence of any usable vision in one or both eyes.

Age Multiplication Factor

A factor used to determine the extra amount of Basic insurance payable at the time of your death, if you die before age 45 (also referred to as the "extra benefit"). See table of extra benefit amounts.

Agency (see also "Employing Office")

A department or independent establishment of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the United States Government. This includes Government-owned or -controlled corporations, the District of Columbia Government (for certain eligible employees), and Gallaudet College. This term refers to the whole organization, as distinguished from its subdivisions and field installations.

"Independent establishment" includes the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Library of Congress, the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

In the executive branch, the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Department of the Navy, and Department of the Air Force are considered to be separate agencies.

Annuity

A retirement benefit (pension) paid on a monthly basis.

Annuitant

A former employee (retiree) entitled to an annuity under a retirement system established for employees. This includes the retirement system of a nonappropriated fund instrumentality of the Department of Defense or the Coast Guard.

Annuity Starting Date

The effective date of your annuity. This date may be retroactive. Also called "annuity commencing date."

Assign and Assignment

Your irrevocable (permanent - it can't be undone) transfer of ownership of your FEGLI coverage (except Dismemberment coverage and Option C) to another individual, corporation, trust, or other entity.

Assignee

The individual, corporation, trust, or other entity to whom you irrevocably transfer ownership of your FEGLI coverage (except Dismemberment coverage and Option C).

Automatic Cancellation of Waiver

The automatic entitlement to Basic insurance and ability to elect Optional insurance if you are reinstated to a FEGLI eligible position after a break in service of at least 180 days.

Basic Insurance

The coverage, based on your annual rate of basic pay, which you automatically have as an eligible employee unless you waive (cancel) it.

Basic Insurance Amount (BIA)

The amount of your Basic insurance on which you pay premiums. It is determined by:

• taking your annual rate of basic pay;
• rounding it up to the next even $1000; and
• adding $2,000.

Beneficiary

The individual, corporation, trust, or other entity that is eligible to receive FEGLI benefits when you die.

Cancellation

The stopping of FEGLI by voluntary action. Also called "waiver." You may cancel coverage at any time.

To cancel coverage employees must complete an SF 2817 (or its electronic equivalent if you work for an agency that utilizes on-line electronic enrollment and recordkeeping) waiving coverage. An annuitant or compensationer must write a letter to the retirement system stating that he/she no longer wants Basic or all or part of Optional life insurance coverage. Reducing the number of multiples of Option B or Option C is a cancellation of those multiples.

Cancellation also happens if you agree to make direct premium payments, then fail to do so within the required timeframe.

Canceling a Waiver

Obtaining Basic or Optional life insurance coverage after you have previously waived or cancelled it.

CFR

Code of Federal Regulations. The FEGLI regulations are found at Part 870, title 5 CFR

Child (as used in the definition of family member (for Option C) and as used with life event)

• a child born within marriage;
• an adopted child;
• a stepchild or foster child who lives with you in a regular parent-child relationship; or
• a recognized natural child.

It does not include a stillborn child or a grandchild (unless the grandchild qualifies as a foster child).

Your child must be unmarried and under age 22 or, if age 22 or over, must be incapable of self-support because of a physical or mental disability that existed before the child reached age 22.

Child (as used in the order of precedence for payment of benefits)

• a child born within marriage;
• an adopted child; or
• a recognized natural child.

It does not include a stepchild, a stillborn child, a grandchild, or a foster child.

Adopted children inherit from their adoptive parents under the order of precedence, not from their birth parents (unless they are designated beneficiaries). However, a child who is adopted by the spouse of a birth parent inherits from that birth parent.

OFEGLI cannot pay benefits to a minor. A child who has reached the age of 18 is considered an adult and can receive a benefit payment in his/her name. But if the age of adulthood where the individual has legal residence is set at a lower age, the child is considered an adult upon reaching that lower age.

Compensation

Compensation under subchapter I of chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code, which is payable because of an on-the-job injury or disease.

Compensationer

An employee or former employee who is receiving compensation and who the Department of Labor, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP), determines is unable to return to duty.

Concurrent Employment

Legally serving in more than 1 position at the same time.

Contributions

Amounts which the Government pays from its salary appropriations or other available funds as the employer's share of the cost of Basic insurance.

Conversion

The exchange of FEGLI coverage for insurance under an individual policy purchased from a private insurance company listed by the Office of Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (OFEGLI) and approved by OPM.

Court Order

A court decree of divorce, annulment, or legal separation, or a court-approved property settlement agreement relating to any court decree of divorce, annulment, or legal separation. A court order has meaning under FEGLI if it requires FEGLI benefits to be paid expressly to a specific person or persons.

Covered Position

A position in which an employee is not excluded from FEGLI eligibility by law or regulation.

Date of retirement

The starting date of annuity. This date may be retroactive.

Days

Calendar days.

Dependent

Living with or receiving regular and substantial support from you, the insured individual.

Designation of Beneficiary

Notice, signed by you, and witnessed and signed by 2 persons, indicating the person(s) you want to receive your life insurance benefits. The form generally used for life insurance designations is the SF 2823 (Designation of Beneficiary).

Employee

An individual appointed or elected to a position in or under the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the United States Government, as defined at 5 U.S.C. 8701(a).

Employing Office

The agency office (or retirement system office) that has responsibility for life insurance actions.

• The Administrative Office of the United States Courts is the employing office for judges of the following courts:
  
       All United States Courts of Appeals;
       All Unites States District Courts;
       The Court of International Trade;
       The Court of Federal Claims; and
       The District Courts of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands.
• The Washington Headquarters Services is the employing office for judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
• The United States Tax Court is the employing office for judges of the United States Tax Court.
• The United States Court of Veterans Appeals is the employing office for judges of the United States Court of Veterans Appeals.

Extension of Coverage

Automatic continuation of your life insurance coverage for 31 days after your life insurance ends, unless your coverage ends by your waiver or cancellation of coverage or because your annuity or compensation terminates. The 31-day extension of coverage does not include AD&D coverage.

Family Member

A spouse (including a valid common law marriage) and unmarried dependent eligible child(ren).

Foster Child (as used in the definition of family member (for Option C) and for life events)

A child:

• who is unmarried and under age 22 (if the child is over age 22, he/she must be incapable of self-support because of a physical or mental disability that existed before age 22);
• who lives with you;
• who has a parent-child relationship with you, not the child's biological parent;
• who is dependent upon you for his/her primary source of financial support; and
• whom you expect to raise to adulthood.

Immediate annuity

• An annuity that begins no later than 1 month after the date the insurance would otherwise stop (the date of separation from service); or
• An annuity under 5 CFR 842.204(a)(1) for which the starting date has been postponed under 5 CFR 842.204 (called an MRA+10 annuity).

Incontestability

A statutory provision allowing coverage you received erroneously to become valid. Incontestability applies if it has been at least 2 years between the time the error was made and the time the error was discovered and you paid the applicable premiums during that time.

In Force

The amount of insurance in force is the amount of coverage you have at any particular point in time.

Inter Vivos Trust

A trust that you establish during your lifetime.

Life Event

For purposes of electing or increasing Option B and/or Option C coverage, a life event is:

• marriage;
• divorce;
• death of spouse; or
• acquiring an eligible child.

Living Benefit

A life insurance benefit (Basic insurance only) paid to you while you are still living, rather than paid to a beneficiary after you die. To qualify for a living benefit you must be terminally ill, with a life expectancy of 9 months or less.

OFEGLI

The Office of Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance, which makes payments to beneficiaries under the FEGLI contract. OFEGLI is not a Federal agency. It is staffed by employees of the life insurance contractor. The mailing address for OFEGLI is P.O. Box 2627, Jersey City, NJ 07303-2627; the street address (for deliveries such as Federal Express only) is 2 Montgomery St., Jersey City, NJ 07302-3802. The phone number is 1-800-633-4542. The phone lines are open from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM (EST).

Open Season

Time period, set by OPM, in which employees may elect or increase life insurance coverage, regardless of any current waiver of insurance in effect. FEGLI Open Seasons are not held annually and are rare events.

OPM

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Option A

$10,000 in coverage that you can elect in addition to Basic insurance. Also called Standard Optional Insurance.

Option B

Coverage, equal to one, two, three, four or five multiples of your annual basic rate of pay, that you can elect in addition to Basic insurance. Also called Additional Optional Insurance.

Option C

Coverage, to insure your spouse and eligible child(ren), that you can elect in addition to Basic insurance. You can elect one, two, three, four or five multiples (each multiple equals $5,000 for a spouse and $2,500 for an eligible child). Also called Family Optional Insurance.

Optional Insurance

Insurance that you can elect in addition to Basic insurance. There are three types of Optional insurance: Option A, Option B, and Option C.

Order of Precedence

Under Federal law, the order in which life insurance benefits are paid to your survivors:

1. your designated beneficiary or beneficiaries;
2. if there is no designated beneficiary, your widow or widower;
3. if neither of the above, your child or children in equal shares, with the share of any deceased child distributed among the descendants of that child (see "Payment to a Minor");
4. if none of the above, to your parents in equal shares - or the entire amount to the surviving parent;
5. if none of the above, to the executor or administrator of your estate;
6. if none of the above, to the next of kin as determined under the laws of the State where you lived.

The order of precedence does not apply when you have validly assigned your insurance or when a valid court order is on file.

OWCP

he Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, U.S. Department of Labor, which administers Subchapter I of Chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code.

Parent

• The mother or father of a child born within marriage or an adopted child;
• The mother of a child born outside of marriage; or
• The father of a child born outside of marriage, if the child meets the definition of a recognized natural child.

Pay and Duty Status

Time when you are actually working; it does not include time on annual or sick leave, leave without pay, excused absence, military leave, or other absence from duty.

Post-65 Reduction

The amount by which your insurance coverage as an annuitant reduces from its original retirement amount after your 65th birthday (or after retirement, if later). For Basic insurance, the choices are 75 Percent Reduction, 50 Percent Reduction, and No Reduction. For Option B and Option C, the choices are Full Reduction and No Reduction. There is no choice for Option A; it reduces by 75 Percent from its original amount of $10,000.

Recognized Natural Child

A child born outside of marriage. An insured individual is considered to be the father of such a child under the following conditions:

• The individual acknowledged paternity in writing;
• A court ordered the individual to provide support;
• Before the individual died, a court pronounced him to be the father;
• The individual names himself as the father on a certified copy of the public record of birth or church record of baptism; or
• Public records, such as records of schools or social welfare agencies, show that - with his knowledge - the individual was named as the father of the child.

If paternity is not established by one of the above means, OFEGLI may consider other evidence, such as the child's eligibility as a recognized natural child under other State or Federal programs or proof that the father included the child as a dependent child on his income tax returns.

Reconsideration

The final level of administrative review of an employing office's initial decision to determine if the employing office followed the law and regulations correctly in making the initial decision concerning FEGLI eligibility and coverage.

Regular Parent-Child Relationship

• Exercising parental authority, responsibility, and control over the child;
• Caring for, supporting, and disciplining the child; and
• Making decisions about the child's education and medical care.

Return to Duty, (refers to compensationers only)

Return to the duty or occupation or work that you were doing at the time of the injury.

Separation

Leaving Federal service, either by resignation, retirement, being laid off, or being fired.

Service

Federal civilian service that is creditable under Subchapter III of Chapter 83 or Subchapter II of Chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code. This includes service under a nonappropriated fund instrumentality of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Coast Guard for an individual who elected to remain under a retirement system established for employees described in Section 2105(c) of title 5 U.S.C.

Terminal Leave

Leave taken immediately prior to separation.

Terminally Ill, for purposes of qualifying for a Living Benefit.

Having a medical prognosis of a life expectancy of 9 months or less.

Termination

The stopping of an insured's FEGLI coverage by involuntary action.

Testamentary Trust

A trust that is created by your will at your death.

Underdeduction

Failure to withhold the required amount of life insurance deductions from your pay, annuity, or compensation. This includes nondeductions (when none of the required amount is withheld) and partial deductions (when only part of the required amount is withheld). If there is no pay during a pay period, there is no underdeduction.

U.S.C.

United States Code.

Viatical Settlement Firm

A private company that exchanges cash for assignment of life insurance to a terminally or chronically ill person.

Waiver

• Not electing a particular type of coverage or multiple of coverage (for Option B and Option C); or
• Cancellation of coverage.

Withholdings

Amounts deducted from your pay, annuity, or compensation for the full cost of Optional insurance and your share of the cost of Basic insurance.