What Is the Civil Service Retirement System?

The Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) is a system that provided retirement, disability, and survivor benefits for most U.S. civilian service employees working for the federal government. It was replaced in 1987 by the Fede꧙ral Employees Retirement System (FERS).

However, employees who were originally set up through the CSRS still receive their benefits through that program, unless they were hired after 1983.

Understand👍ing th🐽e Civil Service Retirement System

CSRS was created in 1920, with the goal of offering government employees a retirement benefit comparable to the pensions that were offered in the private sector. Career civil servants were eligible for a generous lifetime annuity, calculated based on their age and the length of their service.

However, CSRS preceded the establishment of social security as a default retirement benefit for all Americans. When the Social Security Administration was set up in 1935, federal employees were ineligible for benefits, because of the annuity they received under CSRS.

This changed in 1986 when President Reagan established FERS. This new retirement plan was intended to cover all federal employees hired after 1983. Although the benefits were smaller than those offered by CSRS, these employees were also eligible for 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:social security benefits, as well as a matching contribution to a federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).

All civil servants hired prior to 1983 were given the option of switching over to the FERS system. Today, the only remaining emp༺loyees covered by CSRS are those who chose not to switch.

Types of Retirement Under CSRS

The CSRS provides five types of benefits for retired employees: optional retirement, disability retirement, discontinued service retirement, special/early optional retirement, and special provision retirement. Each of them has different conditions, but an employee is only eligible for benefits after five years of full-time service.

Optional Retirement

Optional retirement is available to civil servants who meet ♐certain conditions relating to their age or length of service. There are three different combinations. An employeeꦓ can retire at 55, provided they have served at least thirty years in the civil service, but a 60-year-old can retire with only 20 years of service. The minimum length of service is five years, allowing retirement after age 62.

Disability Retirement

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Disability retirement is available to federal employees who become disabled in a manner that makes them unable to continue their service. I🧸n addition to the five-year minimum, these employees must also meet stringent requirements for medical documentation to prove disability.

Discontinued Service Retirement-Involuntary

This refers to individuals whose 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:employment ends because their positions are eliminated or made redundant. In order to be eligible, the employee must have served 25 years, or just 20 if they are at least 50 year♎s old. In addition, their removal cannot be related to misconduct or delinquency.

Special/Early Optional Retirement

This is for employees whose agencies undergo a significant reorganization or reduction in force. It is available after 25 years of service, or 20 years if the employee is over 50. However, the employee's annuity is reduced if they retire before age 50.

Special Provision Retirement

This type of retirement is only availableꦐ to certain specialized careers, such as air traffic controllers, Supreme Court Police, Capitol Police, or nuclear materials couriers. Employees in these careers are eligible for retirement after age 50 and at least twenty years of service. Air 💦traffic controllers can retire earlier, if they have served at least 25 years.

CSRS vs. FERS

CSRS was founded in 1920 to provide civil servants with a pension, similar to that enjo⛦yed by private sector employees. Because the social security system had not yet been introduced, CSRS was intended to provide annuity payments to all government employees after the conclusion of their service.

The Federal Employees Retirement System (﷽FERS) was launched in 1987 to replace CSRS. All federal employees hired♏ after 1983 were automatically enrolled in the new plan, and those hired earlier were given the option to voluntarily change to FERS.

Today, CSRS serves the small number of federal employees hired before 1983 who chose not to enroll with FER💃S, as well as all of its current annuitants.

The main difference between the two systems is that CSRS provides a larger benefit than FERS, and deducts a larger share of the employee's paycheck. CSRS employees pay 7% of their salary into the civil service retirement fund, while FERS employees pay up to 4.4%, depending on their date of hire.

Although the FERS benefit is less generous than that from CSRS, FERS-covered employees also receive up to a 5% matching contribution to their TSP.

The Bottom Line

The Civ🐭il Service Retirement System is a pension plan for government workers that was replaced in 1987 by the Federal Employees Retirement System. Active federal employees who were hired in 1983 or before will receive their benefits through CSRS.

As of fiscal year 2022, 44,000 active government employees were covered by CSRS. FERS covered 2,788,000.