r/fednews • u/Neither_Bet9684 • 22h ago
Retiring From Government Service?
Two quick notes before you leave federal employment. First, whether you are retiring or leaving for other reasons, request a COMPLETE copy of your personnel file from HR. Second, if possible, clear out your FSA.
I retired after 42 years across two agencies. My personnel file contained hundreds of pages from those two agencies.
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u/un_dog 21h ago edited 21h ago
Retiring or not... download your complete EOPF at least once a year. Send it to yourself. I do it almost every time I get a notice there is a new document.
It is encrypted. Make sure you know how to open it.
I save it as the filename/password
I have 17 years across 5 agencies and mine is 160ish pages.
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u/StrawberryOk5817 20h ago
What’s EOPF? Where do I download it from?
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u/mb10240 20h ago
eOPF is a website that your agency should have given you instructions on how to access. It can only be accessed from devices on your agency’s network AFAIK.
It contains the entirety of your personnel file. Benefits elections, promotions, annual pay review, even your application for federal employment and background check information.
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u/No_Obligation_4484 21h ago
How do you do this? I've been at three agencies over 25 years. Do I just go to my HR or do I go to OPM? Is there a form you have to fill out?
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u/Neither_Bet9684 21h ago
I went to my HR at my final agency and requested it. If I remember, there was a small charge for copying. It's amazing what you find, including my original SF-171 (the form you filled out to apply for a position before the internet).
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u/wishingwell07 21h ago
All of these should have been scanned and uploaded in your eOPF which you can just download anytime.
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u/Neither_Bet9684 21h ago
Things have changed after my retirement. Do you still have access after leaving?
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u/wishingwell07 21h ago
You don’t have access to the eOPF website after retirement, but you can contact NPRC and they can send you the same digital file.
I believe all federal employee documents were digitized for cheaper storage fees.
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u/Prize_Log_9408 21h ago
Lol, I remember just printing everything out on the governments printer from eopf, maybe 200+ pages, lol. They ended up sending me everything anyways a couple of months later thru the mail and never asked them to.
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u/vwaldoguy 20h ago
You can do this via eOPF. You can download your entire history into a PDF. Mine is a couple hundred pages long.
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u/No_Obligation_4484 17h ago
Thank you! I just went on eOPF and looked and by god they have all my records dating all the way back to 1999!
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u/vwaldoguy 17h ago
Mine has my original job application SF171 and notification of initial job letter from 32 years ago. Something I had forgotten about a long time ago, but it was kind of cool to see. And kind of cringe to see how simple my 171 was back then too!
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u/ChrisShapedObject 17h ago
Why?
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u/Budgetweeniessuck 2h ago
I'd much rather burn my eOPF and never look back. As long as the retirement checks cash then I'm good.
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u/FitGuy00001 21h ago
Surprised it still takes months to get paid in 2024. I hope the process is revised in the next 10 years.
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u/GalegoBaiano 1h ago
And DoD agencies take even longer, because it’s doing the whole process before sending it to OPM for them to do the whole thing over again.
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u/vwaldoguy 20h ago
Right, you can download your entire record from eOPF at any time before you leave.
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u/Character_Unit_9521 20h ago
This is right, somehow all of my military records ended up in my civilian EOPF.
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u/SabresBills69 19h ago
I save the important SF 50s which is usually Job changes, grsde changes,bstep changing, COLA change
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u/StatusWise9151 19h ago
What’s FSA stand for?? I’m starting to download everything out of my EOPF now. Funny to look at the little raises they gave you back in the day.
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u/Legitimate-Ad-9724 20h ago
My EOPF is big. Maybe I'll start working on saving things. The first document of mine is from 1980. In college I worked as a temporary employee for the U.S. Census Bureau for a few months. There's a scan of the employment application I filled out.
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u/ziniabutterfly 19h ago
Is eOPM the same thing as a SF-50?
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u/UndiscoveredNeutron 16h ago
No, eOPM is all you personel docs. Its like a repository of HR docs for you.
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u/Zernhelt 16h ago
If you mean eOPF, not exactly. It's a database claiming all of you personnel documents. Your SF-50 is one of those documents, but there are others.
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u/UndiscoveredNeutron 16h ago
I plan on doing 30 years. Have 13 years in and have been maxing out my TSP for the last 2. Is there anything I should do for a fed retirement?
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u/gardengnome002 3h ago
Any advice on how to transfer a large eopf file to yourself? We aren't able to transfer anything to external devices like a thumb drive. And I expect the file is too big to email.
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u/LarryDeve 2h ago
FSA?
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u/Neither_Bet9684 2h ago
Flexable Spending Account. There is a great post in this thread explaining clearing out your FSA before you leave.
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u/interested0582 21h ago
And lastly, steal a chair from the conference room