WASHINGTON – 2/25/25 – Congressman David Valadao (CA-22) joined Congressmen Gerry Connolly (VA-11) and Don Bacon (NE-02) to reintroduce the Federal Retirement Fairness Act. This bipartisan legislation addresses the gap for federal employees who began their careers as temporary workers and were unable to make retirement contributions. This bill allows these workers to make catch-up contributions to ensure they can retire as planned. This bill allows these workers to make catch-up contributions to ensure they can retire as planned.
“For too long, federal employees who started their careers in temporary positions have been unfairly penalized when it comes to their retirement benefits,” said Congressman Valadao. “The Federal Retirement Fairness Act is a common sense, bipartisan solution to ensure our hardworking public servants can retire on schedule. I’m proud to join my colleagues in reintroducing this bill which restores fairness and provides federal employees with the certainty they deserve.”
“No matter how they begin their careers, all federal employees deserve the opportunity to retire on time and with the full benefits they have earned,” said Rep. Connolly. “The federal workforce is our nation’s greatest asset. They serve the American people with dignity and dedication every single day. In this dark and uncertain hour for America’s civil servants, I am proud to join my colleagues in this important effort to guarantee the fair retirements that they deserve.”
“Postal workers in my district came to me about this problem, and I couldn’t agree more that we need to allow them, and all federal workers, to make “catch up” payments as part of their retirement benefits,” said Rep. Bacon. “I’m pleased to join my colleagues in making this right for our federal workforce. They work hard and should be able to get the retirement that that work has earned.”
Background:
Before 1989 the Office of Personnel Management permitted federal employees to make catch-up payments, enabling them to compensate for years they didn’t contribute to their retirement accounts. However, this provision was eliminated when the government transitioned to a new federal employee retirement system. The Federal Retirement Fairness Act aims to reinstate the option for employees hired post-1989, allowing them to retroactively purchase the time they served as temporary federal employees—mirroring the terms that existed before 1989.
Read the full bill here.
From the NALC –
2/25/25 – Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), David Valadao (R-CA), and Don Bacon (R-NE) introduced the Federal Retirement Fairness Act (H.R. 1522). This bipartisan bill would allow certain federal employees, including letter carriers, to make catch-up retirement contributions for time spent as non-career employees after Dec. 31, 1988, making it credible service under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).
Over 65 percent of current letter carriers began their USPS careers as casuals, transitional employees (TEs) or city carrier assistants (CCAs), all of which are non-career positions. More than 132,000 letter carriers who started in non-career positions, in most cases doing the exact same work as career employees, have time currently not credible towards their retirement. H.R. 1522 would allow these affected letter carriers the opportunity to purchase retirement credit for the time they spent in these non-career positions, providing greater retirement security.
The bill was introduced with 24 bipartisan co-sponsors and is identical to the version introduced last Congress, which had 131 bipartisan co-sponsors.
“NALC appreciates Chairman Connolly, Rep. Budzinski, Rep. Valadao, and Rep Bacon’s leadership on this bill that would benefit so many of our members,” NALC President Brian L. Renfroe said. “This bill is about fairness for public servants. Letter carriers put in the hours and the hard work, and it’s only fair that their time spent in non-career positions count towards their well-deserved retirements. NALC urges the House to pass this bill.”
