DOGE'd Feds and impending shutdown
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Anonymous
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My spouse was DOGE'd and took the 2nd fork offer, with "voluntary" early retirement supposed to happen on 9/30. Spouse had been on paid leave since June so this will be the last paycheck and then...I have no idea what.
He's had no emails, no word from OPM, nothing. He's says there is no one to call. I don't know how OPM could keep up with processing all of the tens of thousands of additional VERA applications that are hitting on 9/30 anyway...and I doubt they will all be able essential workers in a shutdown, so what happens now??? I am nearly ready to divorce my spouse over his level of avoidance about this (and the whole end of his federal career in general, because it has paralyzed him completely) but that won't help us in the short term. He is just sticking his head in the sand and assuming an annuity payment will happen in October shutdown or no but I am freaking out with literally zero information, zero communication from OPM, zero anything, so if any one of my dear DCUM pocket friends could help me with ANY general information about what to expect or who to ask or where to go for answers, I would be grateful. |
Anonymous
| The best you can do is for him to file as early as possible, and then he will be paid for retirement. What's the issue? |
Anonymous
| maybe a delay if there is a shutdown but retirement will go on as planned as long as he filed for it. its not like this is a private company going bankrupt you need to chill out |
Anonymous
| It will happen. There’s many before you who have successfully done this. You have to be patient though. Honestly there is no one to call and there’s not much to do but wait it out. |
Anonymous
I am a DOGE fed with VERA. HHS forced us out in APRIL. I got my first pay in August. There is no one to call! It was wrong. It will get fixed, but there is literally not much I can do. It will take time. |
Anonymous
| Oh, and I had zero communication as well. No HR HELP. nothing. |
Anonymous
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Apparently there is a huge backlog at OPM. My husband is due to retire at the end of the year and submitted his papers in June. When he went to talk to the person handling his paperwork to check on the progress today, he was told she was currently working on the paperwork for the people who submitted in April.
I know that’s probably not helpful, but know you are not alone in your frustration. |
Anonymous
Men often get depressed when they are laid off. No one is hiring especially if he is over 35 annuity payments, you mean he took VERA? |
Anonymous
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Your husband was traumatized and you want to divorce him.
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Anonymous
| OP you write as if you are living paycheck to paycheck. Are you? He'll get his retirement but not might take time unfortunately. I know it's frustrating, but unless you have zero savings or emergency fund I'm not getting the drama. |
Anonymous
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If he filed, he will eventually get it, but even in normal times they told us to expect about 4 months between retirement and the first actual check.
With his retirement date coming up soon, the first thing is to make sure he actually did put his paperwork in. He can talk to his agency HR if he doesn't have copies. After that, focus on your household budget and whatever he's going to do for short-term income until the retirement comes in. It doesn't have to be a "real" job, it can be gigs and freelancing to cover the gap. |
Anonymous
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As another DOGE'd fed, I respectfully suggest that your spouse may need some grace. I know that a lot of people equate DOGE'ings to the kind of job loss that happens to people all of the time, but this has in so many respects been so cruel and designed to inflict pain and dehumanize and defame civil servants. I know a lot of people who may be fairly characterized as 'paralyzed' - but I think that many of them are grieving not just the loss of their livelihoods, but in many cases the dissolution and devaluation of their entire fields. And as a previous poster mentioned, it is grim out there, especially for those of us who are older. I recognize this may not be the situation with your spouse, but thought that I would put it out there.
On retirement, my Agency HR is overwhelmed and months behind on retirements. Annuities will be retroactive once the retirement packages get processed, but we have been told to expect at least a 4 month delay. I know that it is incredibly frustrating that it is nearly impossible to get information on individual cases - if your spouse is not able to get the information that you both need, some people that I know have had luck by making an inquiry through their Congressional reps. Good luck to your family as you weather this difficult time. |
Anonymous
| I was a fed for two years, got DOGEd, got a new job right away, and was STILL very depressed. I still feel like crying if I think about it. Please, please be patient with your DH. This was an emotional and traumatic gut punch. |
Anonymous
| Remember that riffed OPM people too, have a huge number of people retiring all at the same time and decided to change retirement processing system in the middle of it all |
Anonymous
Who could have foreseen that making sharp cuts to OPM, DOGEing people haphazardly and having a government shutdown could caused such chaos.  What an sad mess--I'm sorry this has happened to you and your spouse, OP. It is not right that it happens this way to government employees, but elections have consequences and it is what it is.
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