Q. I am an Air Reserve technician with 32 years civil service. I will turn 55 on July 10. I resigned from my civil service position effective the pay period ending July 14. I have, however, vacated the position effective June 22 and used various leave statuses to get me through July 14. Per FERS rules, I was planning to submit my request for federal civil service retirement 60 days prior to my 56th birthday in July 2013. In addition, I submitted my military retirement for Dec. 31, 2012 (I was required to submit a date six months in advance per Air Force Reserve Command directive on their military retirement website). Obviously, there is a disconnect in the two retirement dates by six months. I was just told by my office that to fill my vacated position, they need to move my military retirement up by six months, in effect waiving their six-month in advance notification rule. (Personnel apparently can’t process an action to remove me from the ART position based on my current active reserve status, even though I won’t be participating in any military duty from now until December).
I was informed I would be eligible for a discontinued service retirement if personnel involuntarily separated me from the military so they can fill the position now instead of in December. If this is true, would personnel initiate an SF 50 to process the involuntary separation? Would the Office of Personnel Management have to make the final determination (per information I’ve read in OPMs handbooks)? Is DSR even a consideration under this scenario/these circumstances?
A. Your agency would have to provide you with an official notice of involuntary separation, which they would attach to your application for retirement and send to OPM. That would qualify you for a DSR.
