The Office of Personnel Management has said the government-wide budget cuts could put the agency behind its target time to process retirement benefits, according to a Federal News Radio article.
Jack Moore writes sequestration has cut short the call-center hours of the agency’s retirement services employees from 7:40 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday as of April 28 and suspended overtime duties.
Ken Zawodny, OPM’s associate director for retirement services, wrote in an article on the agency’s website that retirees should expect an increase in the processing time for their claims or inquiries.
“OPM remains committed to assuring that retirees receive the benefits that they have earned and we will provide an update on the impact of these actions on retirement processing on a monthly basis with our retirement claims processing report,” Zawodny added.
Moore writes the agency is receiving more claims each month than it expects, increasing the backlog of delayed claims.
Next week, the agency will issue a report on the number of federal employees that filed claims in April and the applications the OPM processed.
