When Can Law Enforcement Retire (Again!)

I’ve got a really selfish reason for writing this article. I’m tired of retyping the same answer every 72 hours in an email. Which is about how often I get some form of this question. So I’d like this article to serve as the answer once and for all.

I’m not exactly sure why this is so confusing. Probably because as LEO’s we talk about this every single day. And the more you talk about something, perhaps the more chance for rumors and misunderstanding to creep in. And also as LEO’s, we have no problem saying something as gospel, even if it’s incorrect. (How many times have we heard, “You can’t make more than a junior Congressman”? A completely false statement, but it doesn’t stop us from continuing to say it.)

But we’ll answer this question here. And I’ll give a bunch of examples that should cover just about any scenario.

Let’s go.

Page 52 of Chapter 46 of the always-riveting FERS Handbook states the following:

“An employee must meet one of the age and service requirements below at separation in order to be eligible for retirement under the special provision:”

• 50 years of age and 20 years of service as a LEO (or FF)

• Any age with 25 years of service as a LEO (or FF)

That’s it. That’s all. “Nuff said”, as my man, Chadd Wright says.

Well, not really. Because everyone reads into this and doesn’t take it at face value. So let’s expound on it and run through some examples.

Before we get into examples, I think it is beneficial to note what it DOESN’T say. Since that’s where I think most of the confusion comes in. It does NOT say “You must retire from a LEO position”. That’s a very important point that gets people all tripped up. You have to have 20 years of LEO service, but there is no requirement that you have to be in a LEO position when you retire. And I know many that retire under the LEO provisions, but don’t spend their last few years as a LEO, for various reasons. If you’ll just realize that one point, it’ll clear up most of the confusion.

Don’t read requirements in that aren’t there.

Also, it states that if you want to retire at any age (i.e., before 50), you have to have 25 years of LEO SERVICE. Not 20 years of LEO service and 5 years of something else. You can’t mix and match these two rules. One is 20 and 50, the other is 25 at any age. But in both cases, the “20” and the “25” have to be LEO service. What you do on top of that is up to you. But you have to do the minimum LEO service for whichever rule you’re retiring under.

EXAMPLES

(I’ll try to cover most of the ones I get and a few more that help illustrate the options/rules)

Example One:

Jack becomes a Deputy U.S. Marshal at age 24. Jack works continuously as a DUSM until age 45 when he promptly gets fired for running Uber from his government car after hours. (Hey the USMS doesn’t pay all that great!) Jack has 21 years of LEO time, but he is not 50. He’s only 45. Jack can’t retire.

Jack gets a job at the Tasty Freeze for 5 years. Jack is now 50 years of age. Jack also has 20 years of LEO time in his back pocket from his USMS career. Jack applies to the local VA hospital as a maintenance guy. GS-3 job. No great salary but hey, at least it’s a FERS position. Jack starts working under FERS again, works for two pay periods, FEHB kicks in, and then he files for retirement.

Can Jack retire under the LEO provisions?

Absolutely.

Why? Because Jack has 20 years of LEO experience (21 to be exact) and Jack is 50 years of age. So he satisfies the FERS requirements of 20 and 50. Simple as that. Jack gets his 1.7% a year for the first 20, and he goes into retirement with FEHB, the Supplement, immediate COLA’s, etc., etc., etc.

If you’re thinking Jack can’t do this, you’re reading into the FERS requirements in some way. Either you’re thinking he has to retire from a LEO position, or whatever. But trust me, he can do this. If you think he can’t, tell me which one of the two criteria he is failing to meet? The 20 years of LEO time? Or the fact that he’s 50 years of age when he separates from FERS?

(By the way, both Dan Jamison and I have several real-world instances of this exact situation. But because it would be embarrassing for those involved, real-world instances are not used. But think of some of the nationwide stories you’ve heard of federal agents being fired—some of those exact individuals have contacted us and have retired under scenarios just like this.)

Example Two:

Diane becomes an FBI agent at 28, after law school. She works 22 years as a Special Agent for the “Bu” as they call it. (If no agent is just a “regular” agent, are all agents really “special”? I mean, seriously—are they?) She’s now 50 and has 22 years of LEO experience. Can she retire? Yes, absolutely. But she doesn’t.

She gets offered a job as an Assistant United States Attorney and she takes that job. She doesn’t retire and come back as an AUSA. She literally just transfers from FBI to USAO.

She works at the USAO for another 10 years. She’s now 60. She has 22 years of LEO experience, and 10 years of Regular FERS experience. When she retires, what does she retire as?

She retires as a LEO, under the LEO provisions. She’ll get 1.7% of her High-3 for the first 20 years, and 1% of her High-3 for the years after that. She will have the Supplement, the immediate COLA’s, etc.

Again, don’t read into it. No requirement to retire from a LEO position.

Example Three:

Tommy becomes an SSA OIG Special Agent (why, I have no idea) at age 21. He works for 20 years, can’t take it anymore, and switches to a non-LEO job in a national park because he’s tired of being in a federal building cubicle farm. He desperately needs some fresh air. He happily does that for 5 years. He’s now got 25 years on of FERS time, and he’s 46. Can he retire?

No.

He has 25 years on, but only 20 of them are LEO. In order to retire before 50, all 25 years must be LEO years. So he decides to keep working in his non-LEO job until his 50th birthday. He’ll then meet both requirements: 1.) 20 years as a LEO and 2.) Be 50 years old. He will actually have 29 years on total that he will get credit for since all FERS time counts for the overall retirement percentage.

He will retire under the LEO provisions because…why? Because he qualifies. 20 and 50.

Example Four:

Gina becomes a DEA agent at 22. Gina does 19 years as an agent and gets fired for using the evidence locker as a party supply store. Gina is 41 at the time she is fired. She has only done 19 years in a LEO position.

Unfortunately, Gina doesn’t have a lot of options. She hasn’t gotten over that first hurdle of 20 years of LEO time. If she comes back to the government after age 50 and gets a job, it’s almost certainly NOT going to be in a LEO position. So her opportunity for getting 20 years of LEO time has probably sailed.

At this point, it doesn’t really matter what Gina does, she’s never going to get to retire under the LEO provisions. Let’s say she gets a job with GSA or wherever and works until 60, she can retire under the regular FERS provisions, but she won’t get a LEO retirement. ALL years will be at 1%, even her LEO years.

Wait, what?

Yes, in order for your LEO years to accumulate at 1.7%, you have to do at least 20 of them. If you do less than 20 (19 in this case), they are all calculated at 1%, even if you come back and work and ultimately retire.

Because Gina is not retiring under a LEO provision, she does not get the 1.7% a year for her LEO time. Plus she’s got that nagging coke problem. Don’t be a Gina.

Example Five:

Warren gets hired as a Secret Service agent at 21. He valiantly stands post at some tertiary emergency exit route, in his polished Allen Edmonds and his Perry suspenders with no push, chomping on Motrin, and rubbing at his earpiece for 24 years. (Seriously, if you haven’t worn an earpiece day after day, even the custom ones, you have no idea how irritating they are.)

He’s now 45. He gets offered a sweet consulting gig at an executive protection company where he’s actually allowed to sit down during the workday. And he doesn’t have to be away 362 nights a year. The temptation is just too much. He leaves the USSS. Can he retire? No. He has 20 years of LEO time, but he’s not 50. And he doesn’t quite have 25 years on.

So, he basically just resigns. But remember—he’s got 24 years of LEO time.

Time flies for Warren when he’s wearing joggers at work every day and actually getting lunch breaks. Before he knows it, he looks up one day and he’s 50. The company has a generous leave policy. Warren’s mind starts turning to his potential federal retirement check. He applies for a GS-2 FERS job driving a golf cart at a local military base. And he gets hired.

Warren takes a month off from his current job, goes to work for the government for the month, then retires under the LEO provision (20 and 50 in this case, since that’s the provision he met). He then comes back to his private company gig and continues onward, going home every night.

All perfectly fine.

This scenario is probably a bit unrealistic for the simple fact that if someone has done 24 years, they’ll probably just suck it up, do the last year and leave. But I use it as a further example of what COULD be done. I’ve seen people offered jobs too good to pass up, and come back later and retire.

Follow Up Questions

Some dangling questions some of you might have—I see you in the back with your hand up:

What about FEHB? I thought there was a 5-year requirement to have FEHB before you retire?

That’s true. There is. But you are misunderstanding when the clock is ticking. It’s the last 5 years of your FERS working time. If you had FEHB for your whole career, resign, then come back years later and sign up for FEHB, you had FEHB for the last 5 years of your FERS employment. Breaks in service do not count as interruptions in the 5 year calendar.

Don’t believe me? Cool. You shouldn’t. Verify everything.

Go down to the “Break in Service” section of this FEHB OPM LINK, and you’ll read, “Breaks in service are not counted as interruptions when the 5 years of service requirement is determined, as long as the individual reenrolls within 60 days after his/her return to Federal service.”

If someone gets fired, are they a Retired LEO in good standing for purposes of LEOSA?

Probably not. The LEOSA rules are VERY liberal with regards to what the agency is allowed to do. Agencies can (and do) withhold retired credentials from retiring LEOs all the time. Sometimes for very good reasons. Sometimes for very petty and vindictive reasons (you know who you are!)

In fact, I know of at least one agency who has a drawer of retired credentials at their HQ that they refuse to give out to certain retired employees. But they keep them in the drawer for when/if the employee sues and wins their retired creds in court. That’s their policy. Unwritten of course, but still the policy.

I can’t really answer this definitively across the board because there are too many variables depending on the agency, the case involving the employee, how aggressive the employee is at trying to obtain the creds, etc.

The bottom line is that even if you get fired, you may be able to salvage your retirement, but it will almost certainly come with consequences. Plan A should always be NOT getting fired :)

What about early penalty free, TSP access?

This recently changed and it’s pretty awesome. There is a way you can retire prior to age 50 and still have penalty-free TSP access now under the SECURE ACT 2.0 law passed in December. Instead of retyping everything, please just refer to this article I wrote.

You make it sound like it’s easy coming back and getting a federal job after 50. What happens if the person can’t get rehired?

Good question! There’s always that risk. And if you were fired, depending on what you were fired for, it may be very hard indeed to get rehired. If you can’t get back in the government, then you’re basically stuck with whatever FERS time you have and you get a deferred retirement, which you can file at your MRA, 60 or 62, depending on when you are eligible to file and when you want to file. That’s an entirely other article.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Hopefully this helps clear some things up with regards to LEO retirements. Please share this with your fellow LEO’s. It would be really awesome (for several reasons) if all LEO’s understood this.

If you have other scenarios, post them in the comments below and we’ll see if we can’t build up a volume of work that addresses every possible scenario so that LEO’s have one place to come to get all of their answers.

Lastly, please safe out there. Federal law enforcement these days is basically tap dancing in a minefield. You now have to watch both the bad guys and the good guys. If the guys on the street don’t get you, management in your agency might decide to hang you out. And that might be worse!

I remember getting an email shortly before retiring that said something to the effect of, “Just because you do everything by policy and within the scope of your duties, does not mean it will be in the best interest of the government to represent you.” What?!?! If I had any reservation about retiring at first eligibility, that definitely cured it!

It’s tough. My heart goes out to you guys. Look out for each other every single day. You don’t have anyone else you can count on. Do everything by the book, go the extra mile to make sure you’re 100% in compliance with all regs, laws, morals, policies, and ethics. But also have FLEOA, FBIAA, some professional liability insurance, and a plan for getting out as soon as you’re eligible. Love you guys!