Does Your Time At West Point Count To Time In Service

In Montelongo v. Function of Personnel Management (CAFC No. 2018-2095, 10/2/nineteen), the appeals courtroom has reviewed a ruling by OPM that a onetime military cadet was not entitled to count four years at Due west Point every bit creditable civilian service in order to meet the five-year noncombatant service qualification for a FERS annuity.

Montelongo was a West Point for 4 years, and so serviced in the U.Southward. Army just under 20 years when he retired from the military. His only civilian service was as a presidential appointee in the Section of the Air Strength for just under four years. During that civilian service when a human resources officer advised him that he could get credit for his West Point years toward a FERS (Federal Employees Retirement System) civil service annuity by paying a fee to "purchase back" those four years, Mr. Montelongo made a small-scale payment to do and then.. (Stance p. two)

Several years later, Montelongo applied to OPM for a FERS annuity. OPM concluded that only the time working as a presidential appointee (less than 4 years) counted as creditable civilian service. OPM would non count toward the required five years Montelongo's years in active military service nor the years he was a cadet. The upshot was that Montelongo did not authorize for a FERS annuity as far as OPM was concerned and he appealed that decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Presumably because information technology's been well understood that military service does not count toward the creditable civilian service requirement, he did not argue that his almost xx years in the Regular army should exist counted. Instead, he focused on the time he served as a cadet at Due west Point. While the cadet time counted toward his full military service time, the Administrative Judge ruled that information technology is not creditable service toward a civil service annuity under FERS. The AJ sustained OPM's ruling. (p. 3)

The court reached the same seemingly obvious conclusion that cadet time does non count toward creditable civilian service. The court declined to make a distinction between the cadet service and regular military machine service and count the cadet service toward creditable civilian service, something Montelongo urged it to do. As the court points out "nothing in the FERS statute makes that stardom…." (p. 7)

Ah, only what about the "buy dorsum" communication that Montelongo was given by an Air Strength Hour person? The courtroom explains that no such advice "overrides the articulate linguistic communication of the statute." (p. vii) (No mention is made every bit to what happened to the "small payment" that he made to buy back the four years as a buck.)

The Lath's and therefore OPM'south decision on the matter are affirmed and Mr. Montelongo volition non receive a FERS annuity.

Montelongo v. OPM 2018-2095

About the Author

Susan McGuire Smith spent almost of her federal legal career with NASA, serving as Primary Counsel at Marshall Space Flight Center for 14 years. Her expertise is in regime contracts, ethics, and personnel law.