Q: If someone accepts a buyout, can they come back and work as a part-time contract employee?
A: According to OPM, “An employee who receives a Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment and later accepts employment for compensation with the Government of the United States within five years of the date of the separation on which the VSIP is based, including work under a personal services contract or other direct contract, must repay the entire amount of the VSIP to the agency that paid it — before the individual’s first day of re-employment.”
You’d need to check with your agency to learn if the nature of your contract employment would require you to repay the money you received.
2 Comments
The statement ” including work under a personal services contract or other direct contract, ” seems to imply that there are exceptions for some types of contract work. What type(s) of contract work would be allowed?
Thanks…
Only those where you weren’t the contractor, e.g., you were employed by a company that received a contract to do the work.