ML20058L316

From Here to There NRC-DIRECTED Reassignments from One Commuting or Geographic Area to Another

ML20058L316
Person / Time
Issue date:	09/30/1993
From:	NRC OFFICE OF PERSONNEL (OP)
To:
References
NUREG-BR-0183, NUREG-BR-183, NUDOCS 9312160259
Download: ML20058L316 (10)

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t The following information describes tlie options and benefits avail-l able to an employee whom the NRC reassigns from one commuting or

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geographic area to another if the empsoyee is otherwise eligible to receive these options.

Mhat if an employee does not want to more to the new commuting or l

geographic area?

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If the NRC reassigns an employee within the same commuting or -

geographic area, failure to accept the assignment can be made the j

basis for removal according to adverse action procedures.

l If the NRC reassigns an employee outside the commuting or geo-graphic area in which the employee now works, failure to accept the j

assignment can be made the basis for removal according to adverse i

action or other appropriate procedures. However, other options are available to the ernployee such as severance pay and discontinued l

service retirement, if the employee is otherwise eligible to receive j

these options.

yan employee declines the ofer of a position in a new commuting or l

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. geographic area, can the employee retire?

l Of course, employees who are elig'ible for optional retirement can retire at any time. In addition,The Office of Personnel (OP) staff will advise employees who meet the basic eligibility criteria for discontin-ued service (25 years of service at any age or 20 years of service at age

50) of this option when reassigning an employee to a different com-l i

muting or geographic area. For employees covered by the Civil Scr-I l

vice Retirement System (CSRS), the penalty (approximately 2%-per-year reduction) in calculating the retirement annuity for retirement l

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for those under age 55 is not waived. The retirement annuity is not reduced for employees covered by the Federal Employees' Retire-i ment System (FERS) who retire under a discontinued service retire-ment. However, for employees whose annuity will come from both CSRS and FERS, the CSRS portion would be reduced by 2 percent per year int each year the employee is under age 55.

Hhen is an employee covered by severancepay?

When an employee declines to move to a new commuting or geo-graphic area and is not eligible for either optional or discontinued 1

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senice retirement, the employee will be advised as to his or her i

eligibility for severance pay. Generally, an employee who has l ycar of i

continuous senice up to the date of separation is eligible for sever-j ance pay. Severance pay, which is calculated on the basis of the

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employee's years of civilian senice and age over 40, cannot exceed j

one year's base pay.

1 If an employee is eligible for retirement, the employee cannot receive '

severance pay in lieu of retirement.

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o$s de h"' " *' " ' F'"# # *'" "*'5" "S I*'*I"*'*r1 ras m severancepay?

nt or geographic area and still get j

When an employee resigns after receiving a specific written notice i

that he or she will be involuntarily separated, and if the notice of separation is not cancelled before the resignation is effected, the j

resignation after receipt of the notice constitutes an involuntary sepa-ration, making the employee eligible for severance pay if the em-

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ployee meets all the other criteria previously discussed.

How will Federal Eraplayees' Health Benefits (FEHB) be Afected?

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For an employee who aa:epts thejob offerin the new commuting or geographic area, coverage does not change. However, if this em-i ployee has chosen a local HMO as the specific health carrier and i

i moves out of the plan's local senice area, the employee will have to I

choose a new carrier at the new location. An employee should be-come familiar with options available in the new location in order to make an informed choice when he or she relocates.

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1 An employee who is separated because he or she declined the job offer in the new commuting or geographic area and is not eligible for 1

retirement may be eligible for temporarycontinuation of health bene-I fits coverage for up to 18 months from the date ofseparation from the 1

continuation of coverage, he or she would have to pay bot l

individual and agency contribution plus a 2 percent charge for admin-istrative expenses. The employee will be informed of any specifics applicable to continuing coverage as part of the final separation pro-cess.

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From Here to There An employee who declines the job offer in the new commuting or geographic area and is eligible for optional or discontinued senice retirement may carry health benefits into retirement providing the employee satisfies the 5-year enrollment requirement (generally this requires enrollment in the FEHB for 5 continuousyears immediately before retirement). While the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may grant wa. vers in certain unique cases, involuntary separa-tion is not a basis for a waiver. Where the 5-year enrollment require-ment cannot be met, the employee generally will be able to elect the temporary continuation of benefits previously described.

In addition, an employee who loses health insurance coverage as previously described also has the right to convert to nongroup cover-age. The employee's coverage continues temporarily for 31 days after their separation date at no charge. The employee is then entitled to convert within 31 days after he or she receives notice of the right to convert.

How will Federal Employees' Group Mfe Insurance (FEGil) benefits be 48ected?

l The current enrollment will not change for an employee who accepts the job offer in the new commuting or geographic area.

For an employee who declines the job offer in the new commuting or geographic area and who is not eligible for retirement, a 31-day extension of coverage and the right to convert to individual coverage is available. He period when the employee can convert is within 31 7.

days after he or she receives notice of the right to convert.

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For an employee who declines the job offer in the new commuting or N

geographic area and who is eligible for retirement, FEGU coverage Qi continues if the employee meets the 5-year enrollment period. The g

employee should contact OP staff about specific provisions of the w

FEGU program for annuitants.

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Note that any change in coverage made as a result of a FEGU open season begins a new 5-year enrollment requirement for that benefit.

Refer to the OPM Management open season booklet, RI 76-21, for specific details or contact the OP staff.

Accidental death and dismemberment benefits cannot be continued after retirement.

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How will special salary rates be efected?

An employee in cenain occupational series and grades may be autho-rized special salary rates in panicular localities or across the nation.

If the job offer in the new commuting or geographic area is for a different occupational series than that for the position previously held, the previous special salary rate may no longer be applicable. For example, if a Resident Inspector were to be reassigned by the NRC to a non-Resident inspector position, the Resident Inspector special salary rate would no longer apply.

Certain special salary rates sometimes apply to very specific areas, for exampf t. in metropolitan Washington, D.C., special salary rates are

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authorized for certain clerical positions. If the job offer in the new commuting or geographic area were to the same type of position, then continuation of a special salary rate would depend on whether such a special rate was applicable in the new location. In addition, the amount of the new special rate,if available, could differ from that in the old location.

An employee receiving the 8-percent interim geographic adjustment would lose that adjustment if reassigned to a location where the i

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interim adjustment was not authorized.

An employee receiving the law enforcement officer special pay ad-justment would lose the special adjustment if he or she moved to an area where an adjustment was not authorized, or the adjustment would increase or decrease if the new position was located in an area that had a higher or lower adjustment than the original area.

How willannualleave be qfected?

Annual leave will not change for an employee who accepts the job offer in the new commuting or geographic area.

An employee who declines the job offer in the new commuting or geographic arca and who either separates from the service or retires will receive a lump-sum payment for unused leave up to the autho-rized leave balance.

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s From Here to There Can an employee buy back annualleavefor which he or she received a lump sum payment when he orshe separatedfrem the Federalserviceifthe

- i employee subsequently returned to Federal senice?

An employee may not buy back annualleave once the period covered by the lump-sum payment has expired. If an employee reenters the

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Federal service before the period of time covered by the lump sum payment has expired (normally 30 work days), the employee is re-l quired to refund the entire unexpired portion covered by the lump i

sum payment. The agency is authorized discretion to refuse to grant Icave represented by the refund until the refund is made in full.

3 How willsick leare be agected?

Sick leave will not change for an employee who accepts thejob offerin the new commuting or geographic area.

i An employee who declines the job offer in the new commuting or i

i geographic area and who is eligible for retirement under the CSRS will have unused sick leave credited toward his.or heryears of senice for calculating annuity. There is no such provision, however, for employees who are eligible for retirement under the FERS.

An employee who declines the job offer in the new commuting or geographic area and who is not eligible for retirement will lose sick I

leave upon separation. However, if the employee is reemployed by the Federal Government within a 3-year period, the previously accu '

mulated sick leave can be recredited.

Hhat happens to the Thrift Savings Plan contributions?

. i Whatever option the employce'has elected under the Thrift Savings 3

t Plan (TSP) will transfer with the employee if he or she accepts the job y.

offer in the new commuting or Ecographic area.

An employee who declines the job offer in the new commuting or geographic area and who is not eligible for retirement cannot keep an account in the TSP. If the account balance is $3,500 orless, the TSP i

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will notify the employee that he or she will automatically pay the account balance in a single payment, unless the employee does not want a "cashout" of the entire account and asks the TSP to transfer all or a portion of the cashout payment !o an Individual Retirement 4

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i From Here to There Account (IRA) or other cligibie ietirement plan, if a portion of de account balance is transferred, the remainingbalance will be paid to the employce. If the employee is not eligible for retirement and the account balance is more than $3,500, the employee must transfer the TSP account to an IRA or other eligible retirement plan.

Remember that amounts paid from the TSP account are taxabic income for Federal income tax purposes in the year in which payrnent is made. A 20. percent mandatory Federal income tax withholding is made on certain payments. Employees should carefully consider their options because both the payment of the entire TSP account in a single payment and automatic cashout payments are considered eligi-ble rollover distributions subject to the mandatory 20 percent with-holding.The employee cannot avoid the 20 percent withholding even if he or she personally intends to rollit over to an IRA or other eligible J

retirement plan but can avoid the tax that year by having the TSP mie the transfer directly to an IRA or other eligible retirement plan.

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'I..e key to avoiding this tax at the time of transfer is to have the TSP roll over the account balance to the IRA.

In addition to the ordinary income tax that an employee pays on TSP payments, in certain situations, an employee must also pay an early withdrawal penalty tax of 10 percent on the total amount that is received directly from the TSP before the employee reaches age 59 1/2, unless these payments are rolled over.

An employee who declines the job offer in the new commuting or geographic area and who is eligible for retirement has a number of choices regardingTSP benefits.The TSP booklet," Summary of the Thrift Savings Plan for Federal Employees," provides information on i

various options. Employees should contact NRC's personnel staff for I

additional information about TSP benefits.

1%at reinstatemtnt rights does the employee have?

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If an employee is separated from the NRC because of failure to accept the reassignment to a different commuting or geographic area, he or she may be entitled to some reinstatement rights, depending on a variety of factors.

6 If the employee seeks noncompetitive reemployment with the NRC and had held an NRC Regular (Excepted) (Conditional) appointment NUREG/BR-0183 6

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at the time of separation, the employee would be eligible for consider-j ation for reinstatement to a like kind of position and appointment for '

3 years from the date of separation. If the employee seeks reemploy-j ment with the NRC and held an NRC Regular (Excepted) appoint-ment at the time of separation, the employee would be indefinitely cligible for consideration for reinstatement to a like kind of position :

and appointment.

l If the employee seeks noncompetitive employment with a competi-tive senice agency, such as the Department of Energy, the employee !

must have served continuously for at least l ycar in the NRC in either j

an NRC Regular (Excepted) (Conditional) or NRC Regular (Ex-cepted) appointment immediately before the appointment in the l

competitive senice and with no break in service between separation from the NRC and the appointment to the competitive senice.This,

does not preclude the employee from applying competitively for-i positions in the competitive senice following normal competitive senice pmetices for non-Government applicants.

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An NRC employee who is separated from the NRC who previously I

worked in the competitive senice and held a Career Conditional. or Career appointment would be entitled to appropriate consideration for noncompet tive reinstatement to the competitive senice agency.

i based on his or her previous competitive senice status.

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f Hhat other assistance is available?

l Travel and transportation expenses and applicable allowances as pre-scribed in NRC MD 14.2, Relocation Allowances," and in the Feder-Li al'llavel Regulations are payable to the employee _when an employee

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accepts a job in a new geographic area and the relocationis deemed to be in the interest of the Government.These include expenses,within prescribed limitations, for a houschunting trip, travel to report to the ~

new duty station, movement and storage of household goods, tempo '

rary quarters, certain expenses associated with the sale and purchase i

of a residence, miscellaneous items, and a relocation income tax l

allowance. In addition, the NRC participates in the General Service i

i Administration's relocation services program to assist ernployees in

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the guaranteed sale of residence.

l Employees will be given reasonable advance notice of a relocation in order to prepare to move.

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retirement and will be separated from the Federal service, the NRC offers placement assistance, to the extent feasible.

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