The bill changes the Federal Employees' Retirement System definition of "firefighter" (5 U.S.C. 8401(14)). It separately defines nonwildland and wildland firefighters and adds rules for employees who move from firefighter duties into supervisory or administrative positions after at least 3 years of firefighter service. For nonwildland transfers, the employee must have no break in service while in the supervisory or administrative role. For wildland transfers, the employee may have up to 24 months total breaks in service.
The bill also treats certain past service as firefighter service for retirement if the service was performed between October 1, 2003 and the day before the bill becomes law, the worker at the time did not qualify only because of a break in service, and the worker would meet the amended definition. To receive credit, the individual must submit a written election and pay the additional employee retirement deductions that would have been taken during the prior service, plus interest. The agency that employed the person during that prior service must remit the matching government contributions, plus interest, to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for deposit to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund. OPM must notify eligible people and help them get records from the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture as needed. The bill says it does not require or permit Thrift Savings Fund contributions that otherwise would not be allowed.
The bill's sponsors (Representatives Josh Harder, Scott Franklin, and Brian Fitzpatrick) introduced the measure to extend break-in-service consideration so certain prior firefighter service can count toward federal retirement when specific conditions are met, and to require OPM to notify and assist eligible individuals.
No publicly available information.