{"id":268020,"date":"2025-10-01T02:15:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T02:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/268020\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T02:15:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T02:15:22","slug":"opm-director-tells-how-theyll-handle-retirement-claim-surge-nbc4-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/268020\/","title":{"rendered":"OPM director tells how they\u2019ll handle retirement claim surge \u2013 NBC4 Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tens of thousands of government workers are preparing to leave the federal workforce Tuesday, the final day for many who took the government\u2019s \u201cFork in the Road\u201d resignation offer<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Among those are as many as 60,000 retirees who will now anxiously wait for their federal retirement benefits to kick in \u2013 a process that could take months and is potentially impacted by the looming government shutdown.<\/p>\n

“There’s no question there’s going to be a surge. We’re doing everything we can to try and address it,\u201d Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Scott Kupor told the News4 I-Team.<\/p>\n

Kupor, who was confirmed to the post in July,\u00a0<\/strong>said roughly 150,000 federal workers took the Elon Musk-led Deferred Resignation Program offer earlier this year. He said roughly 100,000 federal workers\u2019 final day is Sept. 30, with the rest leaving the workforce at the end of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though OPM knew months ago thousands of employees were leaving, he said their retirements can’t start processing until after they\u2019re off the federal payroll. That\u2019s because each department in the federal government has to wait for an employee\u2019s final paycheck before finalizing their application and sending it to OPM.<\/p>\n

“Now look, it sounds crazy to me, as well,\u201d he told the I-Team. \u201cAnd so one of the things we’re looking at is we’re trying to just basically redesign the entire process from start to finish.”<\/p>\n

For decades, every federal retirement has been processed on paper underground in a Boyers, Pennsylvania, mine known as Iron Mountain. Kupor said OPM had little idea who was retiring until a postal worker dropped off an employee\u2019s paperwork at the mine.<\/p>\n

He said that\u2019s why OPM launched a new Online Retirement Application (ORA) system in the middle of the federal workforce downsizing. The I-Team has heard from federal employees who said switching systems added confusion during their retirement process, but Kupor said it\u2019s enabled OPM to get a handle on how many retirement applications could be headed its way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we know is we have roughly about 60,000 that are kind of in the process of going through this ORA system. As those come in, that’s basically our best sense of what the backlog looks like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked if it was the right time to roll out the technology, Kupor \u2013 a former venture capitalist \u2013 said: \u201cIt\u2019s always the right time to roll out new technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMonths after taking Elon Musk’s buyout offer, almost 100,000 workers\u2019 federal employment ends Tuesday and, for many, retirement begins. The News4 I-Team heard from retired federal employees already experiencing delays.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Kupor said his team of 400 retirement benefits specialists would not be impacted by a federal shutdown because OPM is funded outside of congressional appropriations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re bringing in additional people in this period, so sure, we know it’s going to be a surge and we know it\u2019s going to kind of test our mettle here, but the team is prepared for it and we feel good about where we are going into it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

OPM has long been criticized for slow retirement application processing times, so much so that it began publishing monthly reports on how many claims it received, had processed, had yet to process and how long it took to do so.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis 4 More Context episode unpacks economic shifts in Prince George’s County. What\u2019s next for one of America\u2019s wealthiest Black communities?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

As of August, for example,\u00a0OPM reported having an inventory of more than 24,000<\/a> retirement claims yet to process, with it taking an average of 70 days to process a claim.<\/p>\n

Kupor said he hopes that by Thanksgiving the new wave of retirees will at least begin receiving interim benefits as his office works on finalizing their retirement applications. But that\u2019s only possible if the individual agencies get their retirees\u2019 claims to OPM before then.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether employees at individual departments would be furloughed in the event of a shutdown. According to guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), posted publicly by OPM, it\u2019s up to each agency to decide whether to classify those retirement specialists as essential and keep them on the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cOMB has advised that agency human resources and payroll provider staff affected by a lapse in appropriations may be placed in an excepted status to perform work necessary to off-board DRP employees resigning or retiring on September 30 as orderly shutdown activities, including to submit retirement applications to OPM,\u201d OPM wrote in its memo.<\/p>\n

The I-Team has reached out to the OMB and several agencies about how a shutdown could impact those workers, but there has been no response yet.<\/p>\n

After first publishing this report, the I-Team heard from a number of recent federal retirees who described delays in benefits processing.<\/p>\n

One told the I-Team she retired in mid-April under the first surge but didn\u2019t receive her first interim paycheck from OPM until July.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am still waiting on my retirement package to be assigned to a specialist. It is way too slow,\u201d said the retiree from Maryland.<\/p>\n

Another said in an email that he retired in late April and is still waiting for his full retirement benefits. The man,\u00a0who wished to remain anonymous, did not blame OPM for the delay but showed the I-Team emails indicating backlogs in other parts of the federal government.<\/p>\n

“This is supposed to only take three months max. I can only imagine what others will experience,\u201d he said of this month\u2019s class of retirees.<\/p>\n

The News4 I-Team wants to hear from federal workers, government contractors and local viewers impacted by the upheaval in federal government. <\/p>\n

To reach us, you can email tips@news4iteam<\/a>, call 202-885-4444 or find us on Signal. Reporter Ted Oberg can be found on Signal at tednbc4.06. Producer Rick Yarborough can be found on Signal at RickonTV.24. Producer Katie Leslie can be found on Signal at kleslienbc4.52<\/p>\n

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