Despite receiving over 7,000 new retirement claims in April, 2016, OPM successfully reduced its claim backlog to its lowest backlog of the year by the end of April 2016. More information can be found here about the backlog and the steps taken to reduce the wait time federal employees face when applying for retirement.
While the backlog of retirement claims at OPM can cause federal employees to have to wait for significant amounts of time for their retirement claims to be processed, there are some steps federal employees can take to try to decrease their wait time.
When submitting a retirement application, it is important to double check the information provided in order to ensure that it is all correct and complete. This may sound obvious, but it is not at all uncommon for the processing of a retirement claim to be slowed down due to wrong or incomplete information.
If you are submitting a retirement application that is not a standard retirement, such as a disability retirement, this becomes even more important. These retirement claims are made up of many moving parts and forms that must be completed by multiple different people.
Ensure that all of the information contained within these forms is accurate and that all of the forms are completed and contained in one submission.
If your retirement claim is missing forms, incomplete, or contains incorrect information, OPM will have to ask you for additional information to process your claim. While it may not be difficult to provide the extra information, this will delay the processing of your retirement claim and make an already long process seem even longer.
If you have questions about your federal retirement claim or submitting a retirement claim, the federal employee attorneys at Melville Johnson, P.C. may be able to help. Call or message us today using the form below to discuss your situation and learn how we can assist you.