{"id":27705,"date":"2024-05-15T19:33:43","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T19:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/05\/15\/retirement-processing-has-slowed-in-2024-for-outgoing-federal-workers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:13:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:13:31","slug":"retirement-processing-has-slowed-in-2024-for-outgoing-federal-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/fedlife\/retirement\/2024\/05\/15\/retirement-processing-has-slowed-in-2024-for-outgoing-federal-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Retirement processing has slowed in 2024 for outgoing federal workers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Coming off a surge of retirements this winter, the federal government\u2019s HR office slowed its processing of incoming applications from soon-to-be annuitants last month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After greenlighting retirement applications at a record clip in January, <\/a>the pace has cooled in the three months since. In April, the latest month for which data is available, the average case took 61 days, compared to 47 in February. The Office of Personnel Management processed about 30% fewer cases in April than it did the month before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The office\u2019s backlog, which at one point was well over 25,000 cases has stabilized for the last two months around 16,000 cases, still about 3,000 cases above OPM\u2019s stated goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OPM has been working to take control of its unwieldy retirement system for years, with understaffing and physical paperwork bogging down the process. In 2023, roughly 89,000 employees filed for retirement, with the bulk of them doing so at the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\t