Washington, DC - Today, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued the final regulations on Phased Retirement. Phased Retirement is a human resources tool that allows full-time employees to work part-time schedules while beginning to draw retirement benefits.

“Phased Retirement offers an innovative alternative to traditional retirement for the 21^st century workforce,” said OPM Director Katherine Archuleta. “Phased Retirement provides a new tool that allows managers to better provide unique mentoring opportunities for employees while increasing access to the decades of institutional knowledge and experience that retirees can provide. This is yet another forward thinking policy that the Administration supports as it continues in its efforts to deliver a government that is effective, efficient, and supportive of economic growth.”

 Employees who are eligible for Phased Retirement and want to continue working on a part-time basis may do so with the agreement of their agencies.  During Phased Retirement, an employee will receive a partial annuity and will keep accruing additional service credit toward their final annuity.  The employee will also spend 20 percent of his time in mentoring activities to facilitate the transfer of their knowledge and skills to other employees within the agency. Each agency will have the flexibility to implement the mentoring component in a way that is best for the agency and employees.

The Phased Retirement final regulations will take effect 90 days from August 8, 2014. This means that agencies can send their Phased Retirement applications to OPM for processing as early as November 6, 2014.

The final regulations may be viewed on the Federal Register.