House Dems: OPM ‘omitted’ employee departures from retirement backlog investigation
Last December, a group of House lawmakers led by Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., requested that the federal government’s dedicated HR agency provide information regarding delays within the federal retirement process impacting tens of thousands of former employees who left federal service last year. As of March 31, the retirement backlog sat at 55,681 pending cases, down from a peak of 65,237 cases the previous month.
But the lawmakers, in a new letter to OPM Monday, said that the HR agency’s previous response was incomplete. While the agency noted the loss of 35 customer center representatives, it failed to mention a much larger exodus from within OPM’s Retirement Services division.
“A January 30 letter we received rom the deputy inspector general of OPM raised concerns associated with staff reductions across the agency resulting from Trump-implemented staffing initiatives such as the deferred resignation program, reductions in force and the termination of probationary staff,” lawmakers wrote. “[Specifically], the IG cites data from its November 2025 report indicating the loss of more than 100 staff in the Retirement Services division due to the deferred resignation program. The Office of the IG reiterated concerns that these losses would compound existing delays in retirement processing.”
Walkinshaw and his colleagues also bemoaned that while OPM has touted the launch of a governmentwide online retirement application in its efforts to reduce the retirement backlog, it failed to provide information about what percentage of retirement applications are being handled by the new system.
“To be clear, we are supportive of efforts to modernize OPM’s retirement application process and hope to see continued progress on the use and implementation of ORA,” they wrote. “What we do not support is the use of rhetoric about modernization efforts to obscure the existing backlog of retirement applications for federal employees, many of whom were pushed out by the Trump administration’s workforce reduction policies.”
In a statement to Government Executive, OPM spokeswoman McLaurine Pinover said the backlog of pending claims has declined “significantly from its recent peak.” The agency processed 22,237 claims in March, bringing the backlog down by 14%. But the current inventory remains roughly 20,000 claims higher than its previous peak—36,000 claims in 2022, as OPM began digging out from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“OPM is making steady progress reducing the retirement backlog after a surge in applications earlier this year, with inventory declining significantly from its recent peak,” she said. “Many delays occur before cases reach OPM, as retirement packages must first be completed by agencies and payroll providers before adjudication can begin. Once cases arrive at OPM, most retirees receive interim payments on average seven days within submission of their retirement application, so they have income while their claims are finalized. Interim pay accounts for 80% of their full annuity payment.”
Pinover did not respond to questions regarding the apparent omission of data regarding the Retirement Services workforce from the agency’s initial response to lawmakers.
]]>