Office of Personnel Management May 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing to revise the table of reduction factors for early commencing dates of survivor annuities for spouses of separated employees who die before the date on which they would be eligible for unreduced deferred annuities, and to revise the annuity factor for spouses of deceased employees who die in service when those spouses elect to receive the basic employee death benefit in 36 installments under the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) Act of 1986. These rules are necessary to ensure that the tables conform to the economic and demographic assumptions adopted by the Board of Actuaries and published in the Federal Register on May 20, 2019.

The Office of Personnel Management published a document in the Federal Register of May 17, 2019, concerning adjusted present value factors applicable to retirees who elect to provide survivor annuity benefits to a spouse based on post-retirement marriage, and to retiring employees who elect the alternative form of annuity or elect to credit certain service with nonappropriated fund instrumentalities. The document referenced a different, separate notice and cited incorrect publication dates for the other notice.

This rule amends the special appropriated fund wage schedules for U.S. insular areas in OPM regulations to designate the Department of Defense (DOD) as the sole lead agency for American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Midway, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is providing notice of adjusted present value factors applicable to retirees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) who elect to provide survivor annuity benefits to a spouse based on post-retirement marriage; to retiring employees who elect the alternative form of annuity, owe certain redeposits based on refunds of contributions for service ending before March 1, 1991, or elect to credit certain service with nonappropriated fund instrumentalities; or, for individuals with certain types of retirement coverage errors who can elect to receive credit for service by taking an actuarial reduction under the provisions of the Federal Erroneous Retirement Coverage Correction Act. This notice is necessary to conform the present value factors to changes in the economic and demographic assumptions adopted by the Board of Actuaries of the Civil Service Retirement System.