Veterans sitting in a row

FERS and Military Retirement Service Credit

The Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) pension vests at five years: “an employee or Member must complete at least 5 years of civilian service creditable under section 8411 in order to be eligible” for the FERS annuity. 5 U.S. Code § 8410.

Moreover, a federal employee with prior military service can “buy” additional FERS credit on a month-for-month basis with the military service by paying the amount which would have been deducted from the paycheck each month. 5 U.S. Code § 8411. So there is definitely a connection between FERS and military retirement.

But how much overlap really is there between FERS and military retirement? And what is the interplay between these two different credit provisions? Can military service be used to reach the 5-year threshold for FERS to vest?

FERS and Military Retirement Credit Not for Vesting Period

FERS and military retirement vesting

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently ruled that while military service can be used to buy additional FERS credit, it cannot be used to qualify for the 5 years of service in order for FERS to vest. Montelongo.

A former soldier was a West Point cadet for 4 years, then ultimately retired after a 20-year Army career. He was later a presidential appointee to a federal civilian position, where he served just under 4 years. While there, he used his West Point time to “buy” four additional years of FERS.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) concluded that for purposes of determining whether the FERS pension had vested, only his actual civilian service counted, and not his creditable military service. And that meant the employee had just under 4 years of service, thereby not qualifying for a FERS pension.

The Court of Appeals upheld the OPM finding that the service needed to meet two components to satisfy the 5-year vesting:

  1. Creditable service under § 8411, and
  2. Civilian service, under § 8410.

In this case, while the employee had almost 8 years of creditable service, counting his West Point time he used to purchase additional credit. But only 4 years of that time was civilian service, as the rest of the credit was military service. The employee did not meet the 5-year civilian service requirement, so his FERS was not vested.

Quoting a prior decision, the court concluded:

“The plain language of § 8410 requires five years of civilian service. To allow the non-civilian, i.e. military, service to count towards the eligibility criteria in § 8410 would render superfluous the word ‘civilian.’”

Montelongo, at 1354.

This decision is consistent with the principle that what counts as creditable service for one purpose may not necessarily count for other purposes. By way of example, a military member who was in ROTC in college, then received an educational deferral for law school, ultimately enters the military with time in service credit for pay longevity purposes while in law school. But that time does not count for retirement purposes – it still takes 20 years of creditable service to actually receive a military retirement. Similarly, FERS and military retirement share time for service credit, but an employee still must serve five years in the federal civil service for the FERS to vest before the retirement credit even applies.

Award-Winning FERS and Military Retirement Divorce Law Firm

fers and military retirement

U.S. News & World Report calls Graham.Law one of the Best Law Firms in America, and our managing partner is a Colorado Super Lawyer. Our family law attorneys have years of experience helping clients navigate the Colorado legal system. We know Colorado divorce & family law inside and out, from complex multi-million dollar property or child custody cases to basic child support modifications.

For more information about our top-rated El Paso County family law firm, contact us by filling out our contact form, calling us at (719) 630-1123 to set up a free consult, or click on:

Colorado Family Law. Period.