[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 2]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR831.502]

[Page 104]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
          CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED)
 
PART 831_RETIREMENT--Table of Contents
 
                  Subpart E_Eligibility for Retirement
 
Sec. 831.502  Automatic separation; exemption.

    (a) When an employee meets the requirements for age retirement on 
any day within a month, he is subject to automatic separation at the end 
of that month. The department or agency shall notify the employee of the 
automatic separation at least 60 days in advance of the separation. If 
the department or agency fails through error to give timely notice, the 
employee may not be separated without his consent until the end of the 
month in which the notice expires.
    (b)(1) The head of the agency, when in his or her judgment the 
public interest so requires, may exempt a law enforcement officer, 
firefighter or nuclear materials courier from automatic separation until 
that employee becomes 60 years of age.
    ((b)(2) The Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of 
Defense, under such regulations as each may prescribe, may exempt an air 
traffic controller having exceptional skills and experience as a 
controller from automatic separation until that controller becomes 61 
years of age.
    (c) When a department or agency lacks authority and wishes to secure 
an exemption from automatic separation for one of its employees other 
than a Presidential appointee, beyond the age(s) provided by statute, 
i.e., age 60 for a law enforcement officer, firefighter or nuclear 
materials courier, age 61 for an air traffic controller, and age 62 for 
an employee of the Alaska Railroad in Alaska or an employee who is a 
citizen of the United States employed on the Isthmus of Panama by the 
Panama Canal Commission, the department or agency head shall submit a 
recommendation to that effect to OPM.
    (1) The recommendation shall contain:
    (i) A statement that the employee is willing to remain in service;
    (ii) A statement of facts tending to establish that his/her 
retention would be in the public interest;
    (iii) The period for which the exemption is desired, which period 
may not exceed 1 year; and,
    (iv) The reasons why the simpler method of retiring the employee and 
immediately reemploying him or her is not being used.
    (2) The recommendation shall be accompanied by a medical certificate 
showing the physical fitness of the employee to perform his or her work.
    (d) OPM may approve an exemption only before the automatic 
separation date applicable to the employee. For this reason, the 
department or agency shall forward the recommendation to OPM at least 30 
days before this separation date.

[33 FR 12498, Sept. 4, 1968, as amended at 34 FR 593, Jan. 16, 1969; 48 
FR 38786, Aug. 26, 1983. Redesignated at 58 FR 49179, Sept. 22, 1993; 65 
FR 2522, Jan. 18, 2000]

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