Title 5 › PART III — EMPLOYEES › Subpart G — Insurance and Annuities › CHAPTER 84 — FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM › SUBCHAPTER II — BASIC ANNUITY › § 8412
Gives federal workers and Members the right to start getting retirement pay right away if they meet certain age and service rules. A person gets an annuity if they leave federal service after meeting one of these tests: reaching the applicable minimum retirement age and having 30 years of service; turning 60 with 20 years of service; or turning 62 with 5 years of service. Special job rules: people in certain public-safety jobs (law enforcement, Capitol or Supreme Court Police, firefighters, nuclear materials couriers, or customs and border protection officers) get an annuity after 25 years in those jobs or at age 50 with 20 years in those jobs. Air traffic controllers get the same 25-year or age-50/20-year rule. Members get an annuity after 25 years or at age 50 with 20 years. A person who meets the minimum age and has 10 years of service can also get an annuity unless another rule already applies; they may choose to delay starting it, but the start date must be at least 31 days after they file and before they turn 62. People removed for cause (or Members who resign or are expelled) are not eligible under these rules. Affected individual — someone who got sick or injured on duty, cannot do the covered job anymore, and is moved without a break of more than 3 days into a non-covered job in the same agency. Covered position — any of the listed public-safety jobs (law enforcement officers, customs and border protection officers, firefighters, air traffic controllers, nuclear materials couriers, Capitol Police, or Supreme Court Police). The minimum retirement age depends on your birth year: born before Jan 1, 1948 = 55; born 1948–1952 = 55 plus an age increase factor (see next line); born 1953–1964 = 56; born 1965–1969 = 56 plus an age increase factor; born after Dec 31, 1969 = 57. The age increase factor for 1948–1952 births equals (2/12) times the number of months from January 1948 through December of the birth year. For 1965–1969 births it equals (2/12) times the number of months from January 1965 through December of the birth year.
Full Legal Text
Government Organization and Employees, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
5 U.S.C. § 8412
Title 5, Government Organization and Employees
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110