Retirement Backlog Jumps as OPM Speeds Up Processing

The backlog of pending retirement claims for federal employees is continuing to increase, more than doubling from the end of October until the end of February. However, processing times are getting faster, especially for digital applications. 

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said its backlog of pending claims hit 65,200 in February. About 27,600 of those pending claims were filed through OPM’s new Online Retirement Application (ORA). Total claims pending are up 9,000 from January and about 30,000 from October. 

OPM received more than 31,240 applications in February alone while processing about 18,100 applications. About half of the claims received (15,494) were filed digitally. 

Processing Times Improve 

Average processing time for all claims was 71 days in February, down from 77 days in January. Processing time for digital applications hit 34 days in February, down from 48 in January, while paper application processing times hit 95 days.  

OPM says it’s processing interim payments in an average of eight days. The interim payments typically pay about 80 percent of an employee's monthly entitlement, while the official claim is processed.

It’s key to note that those timelines are for when applications arrive at OPM and don’t include earlier processing times at individual agencies. OPM noted that it takes about 120 days on average for a retirement claim to get through the agency and reach OPM, including an average of 60 days for the HR step and an average of 51 days to get through payroll.

OPM Director Scott Kupor said the movement to an online system is paying dividends. 

“To give you a reference point, it takes at least twice as long for us to adjudicate paper-based cases. So, we are moving in the right direction,” wrote Director Kupor in a January blog post. 

1099-R’s Mailed

Meanwhile, OPM says it mailed the remaining paper 1099-R forms to those who have yet to receive them. Any retiree who requested a physical copy of the form and does not receive it by March 18 is asked to email OPM as the form is critical to doing an annuitant’s taxes. 

A group of House Democrats wrote to OPM after receiving complaints from annuitants who did not receive the 1099-R. The form was supposed to be sent via mail to any annuitant who did not have an email address on file. 

It’s the first year that OPM transitioned to send a digital only copy to annuitants who have an email address on file.