That effectively means that anyone still in a waiting period can join the TSP as of that date. Otherwise, they will have to wait until the next open season. As always, carriers will be free to propose their own changes, but they will have to be cost-neutral. The annual call letter to FEHB plans starts a process of negotiations over benefits and premium rates that OPM hopes to conclude by August 17, with new coverage and rates likely to be announced a month or so afterward for the annual open season for enrollees during mid-November to early December. Another set of rules, to expand the authority to employees outside the general schedule, still is in the comment and revision period.
Agencies have discretion to use the authority, however.
Largely that could be a matter of whether or not they have the available funds. The court in Singleton v. Merit Systems Protection Board agreed with MSPB's assessment that MSPB has no authority to enforce orders in whistleblower reprisal cases against Guard units because those units are run by officers who are not federal employees and not under MSPB's authority. The court said that if an MSPB order can't be enforced it is pointless for MSPB to issue one and that the merit board does not have the authority to issue merely advisory opinions. In years past, these employees didn't really need to know too much about these programs because they were under a separate retirement and disability benefits package, the Civil Service Retirement System, and didn't stand to get benefits from Social Security. All that changed several years ago and these big changes in the benefits picture are just now hitting home for many federal employees and postal workers.