Civil Service Federal Employees Federal Employees Federal Employees

Retirement Group Life Health Benefits Retirement

System Insurance Program System

United States

Office of

Personnel Management

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Retirement and Insurance Service

 Benefits Administration Letter

Number: 00-110 Date: July 28,2000

Subject: Status on Retirement Coverage Error Corrections Legislation

The Senate’s version of the bill to provide relief to employees placed in the wrong retirement system,

the “Federal Erroneous Retirement Coverage Corrections Act” (FERCCA), was recently added to the

House’s long-term care insurance bill (the “Long-Term Care Security Act”). The combined bill, H.R.

4040, was passed by the House and Senate on July 27, and will now be sent to the President for

signature.

The FERCCA will give many employees and annuitants placed in the wrong retirement system an

opportunity to choose between the Federal Employees Retirement System and the offset provisions of

the Civil Service Retirement System. It also requires the Office of Personnel Management to issue

regulations no later than 6-months after enactment. We expect that many employees will come to you

seeking detailed information. While it will take some time to work out the details necessary to

implement any new legislation, you may assure employees that any time lag between enactment and full

implementation will not adversely affect the choices available to them. For your information, a brief

description of the new coverage options contemplated in FERCCA is attached to this Benefits

Administration Letter.

We are already exploring methods for implementing the FERCCA on a Government-wide basis. We

realize that many of you are already working with limited resources and would find it challenging to

assume an additional unplanned workload. In the coming months, we hope to give you more

information on how OPM plans to relieve you of the heavy counseling responsibilities associated with

the FERCCA by hiring an outside agent to work directly with employees. Our goal is to provide every

affected employee with personalized counseling services. We will also develop tools that will assist you

in identifying affecting employees without necessarily conducting Official Personnel Folder audits. Our

aim is to administer the FERCCA in a manner that will fully benefit affected employees and annuitants

without burdening agency resources. 
Civil Service Federal Employees Federal Employees Federal Employees

Retirement Group Life Health Benefits Retirement

System Insurance Program System

In the future, the latest information about the FERCCA will be available at a new web site

(www.opm.gov/benefits/correction). You can subscribe to an email list server on the web site so that

you automatically receive new information, as soon it becomes available. In addition to the information

posted on our website, we will continue to update you in future Benefits Administration Letters.

For the time being, you can begin thinking about implementation. We will rely on agencies to distribute

the materials we provide to ensure that every employee with a retirement coverage error is identified. 

While we will provide you with most of the tools you’ll need, any plans you make now to speed the

identification process will greatly assist employees in the future.

Attachment

Mary Ellen Wilson, Director

Retirement Policy Center

Retirement and Insurance Service