NARFE

Last updated

The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) is a nonprofit, 501(c)5 membership association dedicated to improving the benefits of active and retired federal employees, their spouses and survivors.

Contents

NARFE has some 175,000 members [1] and over 800 NARFE chapters [2] in almost every state within the United States, as well as chapters in Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Panama and the Philippines. NARFE also offers electronic chapters to members who wish to receive their information electronically. Most members of NARFE are covered under either the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS, including CSRS Offset) or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) [3] or are spouses or surviving spouses of Federal employees.

Among items for which NARFE advocates include:

Through both of these acts, NARFE is trying to increase the pensions of retired federal workers. [4]

NARFE legislative program

The legislative program of NARFE is made annually coming before each Congress. The program is divided into three categories in order to show their importance as NARFE legislative goals. The first is to preserve the goals already reached. The second is to provide benefits to the future members of NARFE. The third includes all other goals of NARFE. [5]

Political contributions

According to OpenSecrets, in 2018 NARFE donated $850,750 to political candidates, of which 78% went to Democratic candidates and 21% to Republican candidates. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pension</span> Retirement fund

A pension is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during the individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social Security (United States)</span> American retirement system

In the United States, Social Security is the commonly used term for the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program and is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The original Social Security Act was enacted in 1935, and the current version of the Act, as amended, encompasses several social welfare and social insurance programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social Security Administration</span> Independent agency of the U.S. federal government

The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify for most of these benefits, most workers pay Social Security taxes on their earnings; the claimant's benefits are based on the wage earner's contributions. Otherwise benefits such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are given based on need.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Association of Letter Carriers</span> U.S. labor union

The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) is an American labor union, representing non-rural letter carriers employed by the United States Postal Service. It was founded in 1889. The NALC has 2,500 local branches representing letter carriers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Railroad Retirement Board</span> Independent agency of the United States government

The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is an independent agency in the executive branch of the United States government created in 1935 to administer a social insurance program providing retirement benefits to the country's railroad workers.

A qualified domestic relations order, is a judicial order in the United States, entered as part of a property division in a divorce or legal separation that splits a retirement plan or pension plan by recognizing joint marital ownership interests in the plan, specifically the former spouse's interest in that spouse's share of the asset. A QDRO's recognition of spousal ownership interest in a plan participant's (employee's) pension plan awards a portion of the plan participant's benefit to an alternate payee. An alternate payee must be a spouse, former spouse, child or other dependent of the plan participant. A QDRO may also be entered for spousal support or child support.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CalPERS</span> California government agency which manages pensions for government workers

The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is an agency in the California executive branch that "manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.5 million California public employees, retirees, and their families". In fiscal year 2020–21, CalPERS paid over $27.4 billion in retirement benefits, and over $9.74 billion in health benefits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thrift Savings Plan</span> Retirement plan for U.S. federal government employees and uniformed service members

The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a defined contribution plan for United States civil service employees and retirees as well as for members of the uniformed services. As of December 31, 2021, TSP has approximately 6.5 million participants, and more than $827.2 billion in assets under management; it is the largest defined contribution plan in the world. The TSP is administered by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, an independent agency.

The Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) is a public pension fund organized in 1920 that has provided retirement, disability, and survivor benefits for most civilian employees in the United States federal government. Upon the creation of a new Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) in 1987, those newly hired after that date cannot participate in CSRS. CSRS continues to provide retirement benefits to those eligible to receive them.

The Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) is the retirement system for employees within the United States civil service. FERS became effective January 1, 1987, to replace the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and to conform federal retirement plans in line with those in the private sector.

In Australia, superannuation or "super" is a retirement savings system. It involves money earned by an employee being placed into an investment fund to be made legally available to fund members upon retirement.

The California State University Emeritus and Retired Faculty & Staff Association, also known as CSU-ERSFA, is a statewide, nonprofit organization of emeritus and retired faculty and staff members from all 23 campuses of the California State University system. The primary mission of CSU-ERFSA is the protection of pension and health care benefits for both active and retired California State University faculty and staff members. CSU-ERFSA represents the interests of its members before the California State Legislature, various state and federal agencies, CalPERS, and the California State University Chancellor's Office. CSU-ERFSA also provides assistance to members, who may be experiencing difficulties with their individual pension or health care benefits.

In the United States, public sector pensions are offered at the federal, state, and local levels of government. They are available to most, but not all, public sector employees. These employer contributions to these plans typically vest after some period of time, e.g. 5 years of service. These plans may be defined-benefit or defined-contribution pension plans, but the former have been most widely used by public agencies in the U.S. throughout the late twentieth century. Some local governments do not offer defined-benefit pensions but may offer a defined contribution plan. In many states, public employee pension plans are known as Public Employee Retirement Systems (PERS).

Congressional pension is a pension made available to members of the United States Congress. As of 2019, members who participated in the congressional pension system are vested after five years of service. A pension is available to members 62 years of age with 5 years of service; 50 years or older with 20 years of service; or 25 years of service at any age. A reduced pension is available depending upon which of several different age/service options is chosen. If Members leave Congress before reaching retirement age, they may leave their contributions behind and receive a deferred pension later. The current pension program, effective January 1987, is under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), which covers members and other federal employees whose federal employment began in 1984 or later. This replaces the older Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) for most members of congress and federal employees.

Contra Costa County Employees' Retirement Association (CCCERA) is a retirement association for Contra Costa County, California's public employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 California elections</span>

California's state elections were held November 3, 1992. Necessary primary elections were held on March 3. Up for election were all the seats of the State Assembly, 20 seats of the State Senate, and fifteen ballot measures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teacher Retirement System of Texas</span> Teacher retirement investment fund of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) is a public pension plan of the State of Texas. Established in 1937, TRS provides retirement and related benefits for those employed by the public schools, colleges, and universities supported by the State of Texas and manages a $180 billion trust fund established to finance member benefits. More than 1.6 million public education and higher education employees and retirees participate in the system. TRS is the largest public retirement system in Texas in both membership and assets and the sixth largest public pension fund in America. The agency is headquartered at 1000 Red River Street in the capital city of Austin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Structure of the United States Congress</span>

The structure of the United States Congress with a separate House and Senate is complex with numerous committees handling a disparate array of topics presided over by elected officers. Some committees manage other committees. Congresspersons have various privileges to help the presidents serve the national interest and are paid a salary and have pensions. Congress formed a Library of Congress to help assist investigations and developed a Government Accountability Office to help it analyze complex and varied federal expenditures.

The Michigan Office of Retirement Services (ORS) administers retirement programs for Michigan's state employees, public school employees, judges, state police, and National Guard. ORS also provides various retiree healthcare benefits, including traditional insurance plans, Personal Healthcare Funds, and Health Reimbursement Accounts. ORS serves over 530,000 customers, representing one out of every fourteen Michigan adults. ORS customers live in approximately one out of every nine Michigan households. The state employee system and the public school employee system administered by ORS make up 95 percent of all active plan membership in Michigan. ORS is responsible for the 18th largest public pension system in the United States and the 47th largest pension system in the world, managing combined net assets of nearly $67.8 billion. In fiscal year 2017, ORS paid out over $7.3 billion in pension and health benefits. According to the Pensionomics 2016 report from the National Institute on Retirement Security, pensions paid to Michigan retirees generated $11.1 billion in total spending in the state of Michigan. A Pew study ranks ORS in the top ten state pension systems for paying the highest percentage of their annual required contribution for pension plans, which demonstrates a commitment to fiscal responsibility. ORS is a division of Michigan's Department of Technology, Management, and Budget (DTMB).

The Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) was a proposed social insurance program for Ontario, Canada to complement the national Canada Pension Plan. It was intended to cover the 3.5 million workers in Ontario who would not receive a comparable workplace pension after their retirement. Plans to implement the ORPP were cancelled in 2016 following an agreement between the federal government and the provinces to expand the Canada Pension Plan.

References

  1. "Fed advocacy org celebrates 100th birthday". 2 November 2023.
  2. "NARFE Chapters". 22 December 2020.
  3. "Member Benefits", NARFE
  4. "What Is NARFE?", NARFE
  5. "NARFE Legislative Program", NARFE
  6. "National Active & Retired Federal Employees Assn Summary". OpenSecrets.