Evening star., 1945-09-29
BY IRVING LADIMER and
ROBERT J. MYERS.

Implicit in all inquiries received
was the question: How can / keep
regularly informed of changes in the
system, the status of my account
and new rights which I may have
The obvious answer is tnat the
United States Civil Service Com
mission. charged with administering
the Retirement Act. has informa-
tional circulars available free OF
charge and a staff capable of an
swering limited number of in
quiries. If you have to know what
your credit balance is. the commits
sion will provide statement. Be
careful to limit questions to your
own case and your own problems
if you want specific employment
and accounting data. because all
records ale confidential and person.
al matters are revealed only to in
dividuals authorized.
A discussion, summarizing the
program and emphasizing the role
of the Civil Service Commission, will
be delivered shortly under the aus
pices of Radio Station WMAL. The
authors of this series will engage
in question cuffs" and may be priv
ileged to present an of1cer of the
commission who will state person.
ally how that organization can be
Of most assistance.
In addition to letters concerned
with problems of qualification for
benefits and computations, some
dealt with limitations on funds and
rights Of transferees. OF course. the
time-worn query about the "tontine'
cropped up again. Brief analysis OF
these matters follow.
REASON FOR THE TONTINE.
For many persons the 81 month
"tontine" deduction taken out OF
the contributions before they are
credited to the individual account
has been Z, minor but continuously
perplexing matter. The most COM
mon misconception is that this is a
charge for bookkeeping or admin
strative expenses. Actually the ton
tine was introduced by the amend
o
tial payment for some of the addi-
tional cost Of benefits introduced at
that time
The tontine charge does not repre-
sent a net loss to most employees
since the Governments share OF
the annuity more than offsets It,
Thus, only those who leave the
Government with less than S years
of service suffer a definite loss
Even this. however, will not exceed
$50. For others, 1t may be said that
the money is taken out of one pocket
and put into another. However. for
simplicity and ease OF understand
ing, it ", Id seem desirable to
eliminate NE tontine in, the next
amendments to the Retirement Act
LEGAL PROCESS AND
ANNUITIES.
As Is true for most payments
made by the Government, money
awarded under the Retirement Act
Is not subject to execution or other
legal action. Section 1S OF the act
reads None of the moneys men,
toned in this act shall be assign
able, either in law or equity, or be
subject to execution, levy, or at
tachment, garnishment, or other
legal process" But this is unclear
according to one correspondent.
1t means. for practical purposes
that the Government will not turn
over any or all the benefits due to
satisfy claims of an annuitant's
creditor nor will it even cooperate
with creditor to induce the an
nuitant to pay his debts. BY the
same token. the Government will
not aid an annuitant by permitting
an assignment Of the benefits to
another. for any purpose. The sole
exception to this rule takes place
when the Government is creditor
This section does not prevent the
Government from setting off from
benefits or refunds, any debts to it
such as those arising from short
payment Of tax or from taking ad-
vanced leave and then resigning.
In other terms, the funds granted
under the Retirement Act are per-