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Text Box: NARFE TESTIFIES IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION TO CHANGE RULES FOR RE-HIRING FEDERAL ANNUITANTS NARFE has thrown its support behind legislation that would make it easier for the Government to re-hire Federal Annuitants. Testifying before the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Daniel Adcock, NARFE’s Assistant Legislative Director, said NARFE has long held that federal retirees who are interested in returning to government service ought to be able to receive the full salary of their new job without any offset as the result of the retirement annuity they earned through prior federal service. “At a time when the nation faces critical challenges and our federal government faces an unprecedented brain drain,” Adcock told the Subcommittee, “we should not ignore this pool of ready, willing, able and proud men and women who have dedicated their careers in service to our nation.” Adcock said that NARFE’s annuitant members count among our rank agency managers and line supervisors, security specialists, computer programmers, air traffic controllers and law enforcement personnel. “Annuitants boast rare talents and vast experience,” he added. “For those capable, and those willing to give more in answer to this call, laws, regulations and the manner in which they are applied must not be an impediment to accessing our talents.” He noted that “The requirements of the ‘war on terror,’ homeland security and other responsibilities have created considerable staffing difficulties, particularly in light of the unique expertise and experience required for these jobs. Indeed, the reality of our current skill shortages demonstrates the critical roles played by civilian employees of the government, thousands of whom are working alongside their uniformed colleagues in locations like Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The problem, Adcock explained, is that under current law, the wages of those re-employed annuitants are generally offset by the amount of their annuity. “However,” he said, “the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and certain federal agencies have the authority to allow some returning retirees to avoid the offset when serving ‘in positions for which there is exceptional difficulty recruiting and retaining a qualified employee’ and in jobs critical to the accomplishment of the agency’s mission.”

But it is not always about the money. Adcock told the subcommittee that many NARFE members “have told us they appreciate the value of remaining professionally, mentally and physically engaged through re-employment. In addition, more and more no longer care to be bystanders with what is going on in the Middle East and with Homeland Security and they want to answer the call of public service at a time when our nation needs their unique skills and talents.”

Adcock noted that H.R. 3579, legislation introduced by Ranking Member Tom Davis (R-VA), would allow federal agencies to re-employ federal retirees on a limited, part-time basis without offset of annuity from salary. Adcock said it is NARFE’s hope that “agencies use this authority to supplement, and not supplant, the current workforce and to find annuitants with specific skills which are not presently available for hard-to-fill positions which require specific skills.”

Adcock concluded NARFE’s testimony by reiterating that H.R. 3579 removes many obstacles preventing or discouraging the re-employment of federal annuitants and it enables the government to hire workers with skills and talents in short supply, and urged members of the subcommittee to approve this needed and critical legislation.