Retirement Plan

New employees without prior federal service are automatically covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), a three-tier system consisting of the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), Social Security and the FERS Basic Benefit Plan. Minimum retirement age under FERS is dependent on date of birth, but ranges from age 55 to 57. After completing five years of qualifying overseas service, FERS participants may be eligible to participate in the FERS CIA Special Category retirement system. FERS Special Category allows an employee to retire at age 50 with 20 or more years of service. Additional information about FERS is available at opm.gov/retire.