Guide to Voluntary Early Retirement Regulations

Download or read book Guide to Voluntary Early Retirement Regulations written by United States Office of Personnel Management and published by . This book was released on 2006-08-01 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) provides agencies the option to offer voluntary early retirement when restructuring as well as when downsizing. The voluntary early retirement provisions are the same under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). The use of VERA is an option for increasing voluntary attrition in agencies that are undergoing substantial organizational change (e.g., reduction in force, reorganization, reshaping, delayering). Besides providing an incentive for employees to voluntarily retire or resign to avoid potential reduction in force actions, the agency may also offer VERA to employees in safe positions that could then provide placement opportunities for employees occupying surplus positions. * VERA is not the same as a Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP), also called a "buyout." The Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) approval of VERA for an agency does not automatically authorize Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments. However, the use of VERA and VSIP together has been shown to significantly increase the acceptance rate for voluntary separations by VERA, optional retirement, or resignation. * VERA is not the same as Discontinued Service Retirement (DSR). Although the annuity computation formulas and the minimum age and service requirements are the same, DSR is an involuntary action, while VERA is a voluntary action. DSR may not be used in combination with VSIP, which requires a voluntary separation.