Title 5 › Part III— EMPLOYEES › Subpart G— Insurance and Annuities › Chapter 84— FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM › Subchapter III— THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN › § 8432b
Lets employees who leave work or go on leave without pay to do military service and then return under chapter 43 of title 38 to make up missed Thrift Savings Fund (TSP) contributions. The most they can add equals what they would have put in during the time away (from the day they left or began leave without pay until the day before they returned), minus any TSP contributions they actually made during that time. They make these catch-up contributions the same way and on the same schedule as normal TSP payroll contributions, spread out over the repayment period the employee chooses. The Executive Director of the TSP will set the form and timing for how employees pick the total amount and repayment period. The agency that rehired the employee must make the matching agency contributions as if the employee had made the normal contributions while away. The employee is also entitled to an agency payment equal to 1 percent of their basic pay for the missed period, minus any agency payments already made for that time. For these calculations, pay is what the employee would have earned if they had stayed in their last job. The agency may also have to pay lost earnings on the missed contributions, computed back to when the contributions would have been made. Payments come from the rehiring agency, from the same source used for other TSP agency payments, and must be made within the times the Executive Director sets. The time away for military service is treated as continuous civilian service for crediting service time, and the employee can choose, within the time the Executive Director allows, to treat the separation as if it never happened for certain retirement rules. The Executive Director will issue rules to carry all this out.
Full Legal Text
Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
5 U.S.C. § 8432b
Title 5 — Government Organization and Employees
Last Updated
Apr 3, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60