House Panel Studies Range of TSP Changes

Back in September, President Obama said he would encourage employees to put payments for unused vacation and sick days into their retirement plans. But allowing retiring federal employees to transfer their unused paid time off into the Thrift Savings Plan would require congressional action, the head of the TSP told members of a House panel his month.

The transfer scenario was one of a number TSP-related issues discussed at a Nov. 3 House Federal Workforce Subcommittee hearing on the retirement plan. The hearing examined recent developments regarding the TSP in light of recent changes in the law and a number of pending legislative and regulatory proposals.

Transfer of Leave—The president’s September statement hinged on recent IRS rulings which sanctioned such contributions to 401(k) plans. But Greg Long, executive director of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, said that while the annual leave federal employees receive falls within the purview of two recent IRS rulings allowing the movement of such unused funds into a retirement plan, any such plan’s rules must specifically permit the transfer. And that is not the case with the TSP.