What are buyout and early out authorities?
Voluntary Early Out Authority (VERA) enables employees with at least 20 years of service and age 50, or 25 years of service and at any age to retire during a period established by the agency. Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) employees under age 55 will have their annuities reduced by 2% a year for every year under 55, but there is no reduction for Federal Employee Retirement Service (FERS) employees. Those employees who transferred fromCSRS to FERS receive an annuity comprised of a FERS component and a CSRS component. The CSRS component will be subject to the reduction. The authority must be granted by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). More information about VERA may be found at the Departmental Office of Human Resources Website. Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP) authority – commonly known as buyouts – generally enables people to get the lesser of what their severance pay would be if they were separated by RIF or $25,000, if they voluntarily leave by resignati
