So That’s What That Change Was In My Employee Paycheck!

      “We’ve always given 'em the bad news; why not give 'em some good news?” quipped USDA’s Benefits Officer Eleanor Ratcliff.

      “She was referring to an unexpected increase that USDA employees and other federal employees found in their paychecks, as well as reflected in their Statements of Earnings and Leave, effective on Pay Period No. 1. The increase in pay was caused by a 'retirement contribution rollback’ in the amount of money that federal employees are required to pay into their own retirement funds.

      “She noted that because of the 'rollback,’ the withholding rates for all federal employees reverted back to the rates that were in effect before 1999. Specifically, the employee deduction for those enrolled in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) is now back to 7 percent, while the employee deduction for those enrolled in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) is now back to 0.8 percent. Employees under special retirement systems also had equivalent rollbacks.

      “This is significant,” Ratcliff pointed out, “because since 1999 the employee deduction for those respective retirement systems had been increasing by .25 percent in January 1999 and by .15 percent in January 2000, and was scheduled to increase by .10 percent in January 2001--for a total increase of .50 percent over that three-year period.”

      “But, instead, because of the elimination of those higher retirement contributions, the employee deduction has now reverted back to pre-1999 levels.”

      “The January 1999 issue of the USDA News carried a story on those increases.

      ““The reason for this change,” explained Marjorie Rawls, an employee relations specialist in the Office of Human Resources Management, “was because last year Congress and the White House saw the federal budget running a surplus, so they agreed that the retirement plan deduction rates should fall back to the levels in effect in 1998, and that change was signed into law on October 23, 2000.”

      “Rawls estimated that this change will save USDA employees and other federal employees $200 to $700 annually, depending on their grade.

      “Who says,” laughed Ratcliff, “you can’t find good news in the print media?”