The Foreign Service Journal, February 2007

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 5 Protecting Foreign Service retirement benefits and advan- cing the interests of our re- tirees are fundamental and abiding AFSA priorities, things we work on constantly. Our engagement is not just an out- growth of our regular member services, but reflects the fact that the FS retirement system is unique in two ways. It is “owned and operated” by the State Department, though lightly guided and overseen by the U.S. Treasury and the Office of Personnel Management. Your retirement contri- butions go or went (depending on whether you are active-duty or already retired) into the State Department controlled Foreign Service Retire- ment and Disability Fund, and all checks are drawn from it. The other unique feature of the FS retirement system is that it is run by the State Department; specifically the Human Resource Bureau’s Office of Retirement. HR/RET’s staff controls the process completely from the initial notification of intent to retire until you die, and beyond if you have a surviving spouse. They calculate your annuity, handle all other aspects of your service- related life such as your medical plan and all deductions, and administer all changes in the future that affect your benefits. This is true for FS employees from all agencies, not just State. AFSA is uniquely positioned to watch over the FS retirement system, and over HR/RET, because of our organic involvement with and knowledge of the Service. We regularly intervene and assist, both in terms of helping indi- viduals who encounter prob- lems (over 400 in 2006) and in agitating to fix larger systemic problems. We have been very pleased with some significant advances in HR/ RET’s operations the past couple of years, particularly those related to the application of information technology and the introduction of RNET, the office’s online information system. While most older retirees are not ready for a paperless retirement sys- tem and mailed statements will be required for many years to come, the department’s investment in this area is much appreciated. Although only a tiny percentage of those already retired encounter seri- ous problems and need AFSA’s help in getting out of a morass, those who do usually find our assistance indispens- able. However, the number of em- ployees headed out the door to retire- ment who encounter problems, or think they’re running into problems, is much higher. We have received many complaints about the process of retir- ing, frustrations that focus on two areas: the inability to get a definitive advance determination of what their annuity will be, and dissatisfaction with the level of “customer service” offered by the clearly overburdened counselors in HR/RET. A spate of recent consultations with senior officials in that office and its superiors at State revealed that they were well aware of the problems and are moving quickly to overcome them. Several additional counselors are being hired and training is anticipated to improve the service orientation of the staff. Getting firm advance annuity cal- culations is a tougher challenge, as many employees have had other feder- al government jobs, military time, etc., that HR/RET isn’t aware of. We applaud the department’s efforts to date and urge it to continue addressing these concerns to make retirement out-processing considerably more smooth and speedy than is presently the case, as well as to improve its coor- dination with the payroll office’s Retirement Accounts Division. It is worth noting that the costs of operating the FS retirement system, about $6 million annually, come from a direct appropriation to the State Department. This is not the case for the Civil Service pension fund, which covers its operating expenses from the investment returns of the fund itself. There has been some discussion at State in the recent past about asking Congress to change the FS system to mirror the CS system in this regard. While we understand that this idea is dormant for now, AFSA is watching this closely and will intervene aggres- sively to ensure that nothing jeopar- dizes the FSRDF. I urge all employees to maintain their AFSA membership after retiring. We’re just as relevant to you then as when you were active-duty. Also, most of our retiree members find that AFSA is the best, if not the only, way to stay in touch with the Service. P RESIDENT ’ S V IEWS Defending Retirees’ Interests, Both Inside and Outside the FS B Y J. A NTHONY H OLMES J. Anthony Holmes is the president of the American Foreign Service Association.