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1 (June 28, 2000)

handle is hein.crs/crsuntaaadg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS20255 Updated June 28, 2000 Civil Service Retirement Bills in the 106th Congress Patrick J. Purcell Specialist in Social Legislation Domestic Social Policy Division Summary Correcting Retirement Coverage Errors Under the terms of the Federal Employees Retirement System Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-335), all federal employees initially hired after 1983 are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). FERS has three components: Social Security, a basic retirement annuity, and the Thrift Saving Plan (TSP). Federal employees hired before 1984 are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) unless they elected to switch to FERS during open seasons held in 1987 and 1998. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, several thousand federal employees were assigned to the wrong retirement system by their employing agencies. Under current law, when retirement coverage errors are discovered, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is required to convert the employee to the appropriate retirement system. As a result of these mandatory corrections, many employees will receive substantially smaller retirement annuities than they would have received if they were permitted to remain in the system to which they had been erroneously assigned. Employees erroneously assigned to CSRS and then corrected to FERS face the greatest potential financial hardship. They will receive smaller retirement annuities than they would have received under CSRS; they may be subject to substantial Social Security taxes Congressional Research Service °* The Library of Congress CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web