Effective March 19, 2015, the Postal Service™ is revising the Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM). Recently, section 401 of the “Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013,” signed into law by the President on December 26, 2013, created another class of FERS coverage, FERS-Further Revised Annuity Employee (FRAE). New career employees (as designated in the statute) hired on or after January 1, 2014, will be covered under FERS-FRAE. The Postal Service retirement coverage codes for FERS-FRAE and FERS-FRAE (LEO) employees have been designated as “E” and “F” respectively.
FERS-FRAE applies to:
n Any employee who receives an appointment not excluded from FERS coverage on or after January 1, 2014, and would normally be placed in FERS or FERS-RAE.
n There are three exceptions to this general rule; however, the date December 31, 2013, is a key date for each of these exceptions.
An individual will be excluded from FERS-FRAE coverage if any of these exceptions apply:
n The individual on December 31, 2013, was covered under FERS or FERS-RAE; or
n The individual on December 31, 2013, was performing civilian service which is creditable or potentially creditable service under FERS or FERS-RAE; or
n The individual on December 31, 2013, was not covered under FERS or FERS-RAE and was not performing civilian service which is creditable or potentially creditable service under FERS or FERS-RAE, but as of December 31, 2013, had performed at least five years of civilian service creditable or potentially creditable under FERS-RAE, including service creditable for CSRS and/or CSRS Offset.
ELM 581 is revised to add 581.7 and 581.8 to include employees covered under FERS-FRAE and employees who are excluded from coverage under FERS and FERS-RAE.
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Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM)
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5 Employee Benefits
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580 Federal Retirement System
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581 General
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581.1 Scope
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[Add new 581.7 to read as follows:]
581.7 Employees Covered
FERS-Further Revised Annuity Employee (FRAE) applies to:
a. Any employee hired after December 31,2013, who is not excluded from FERS coverage will be subject to FERS-FRAE, unless they meet specific requirements as of December 31, 2012, that would allow them to be subject to original FERS, or unless they meet specific service requirements as of December 31, 2013, that would allow them to be subject to FERS-RAE
b. There are three exceptions to this general rule; however, the date December 31, 2012, is a key date for each of these exceptions.
[Add new 581.8 to read as follows:]
581.8 Exclusions
An employee hired in 2014 or later will be subject to original FERS coverage if any of these exceptions apply:
a. The individual on December 31, 2012, was covered under FERS; or
b. The individual on December 31, 2012, was performing civilian service which is creditable or potentially creditable service under FERS; or
c. The individual on December 31, 2012, was not covered under FERS and was not performing civilian service, which is creditable or potentially creditable service under FERS, but as of December 31, 2012, had performed at least five years of civilian service creditable or potentially creditable under FERS, including service subject to the Civilian Service Retirement System (CSRS or CSRS-Offset).
An employee hired in 2014 or later who is not subject to original FERS coverage will be subject to FERS-RAE coverage if any of these exceptions apply:
a. The employee on December 31, 2013, was covered under FERS-RAE; or
b. The employee on December 31, 2013, was performing civilian service which is creditable or potentially creditable service under FERS; or
c. The employee on December 31, 2013, was not covered under FERS and was not performing civilian service which is creditable or potentially creditable service under FERS, but as of December 31, 2013, had performed at least five years of civilian service creditable or potentially creditable under FERS service subject to CSRS or CSRS Offset.
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We will incorporate these revisions into the next online update of the ELM, which is available on the Postal Service PolicyNet website:
n Go to http://blue.usps.gov.
n In the left-hand column under “Essential Links”, click PolicyNet.
n Click Manuals.
The direct URL for the Postal Service PolicyNet website is http://blue.usps.gov/cpim.
— Compensation and Benefits,
Labor Relations, 3-19-15
