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5 CFR § 550.704 - Eligibility for severance pay.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t5/s550.704"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "5 CFR § 550.704 - Eligibility for severance pay."
title_number: 5
title_name: "Administrative Personnel"
section_number: "550.704"
section_name: "Eligibility for severance pay."
chapter_name: "OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS"
part_number: "550"
part_name: "PAY ADMINISTRATION (GENERAL)"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
regulatory_source: "33 FR 12458, Sept. 4, 1968, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "550"
---

# 550.704 Eligibility for severance pay.

(a) To be eligible for severance pay, an employee must:

(1) Be serving under a qualifying appointment;

(2) Have completed at least 12 months of continuous service, as described in § 550.705; and

(3) Be removed from Federal service by involuntary separation.

(b) An employee is not eligible for severance pay if he or she:

(1) Is serving under a nonqualifying appointment;

(2) Declines a reasonable offer;

(3) Is serving under a qualifying appointment in an agency scheduled by law or Executive order to be terminated within 1 year after the date of the appointment, unless on the date of separation, the agency's termination has been postponed to a date more than 1 year after the date of the appointment, or the appointment is effected within 3 calendar days after separation from a qualifying appointment;

(4) Is receiving injury compensation under subchapter I of chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code, unless the compensation is being received concurrently with pay or is the result of someone else's death; or

(5) Is eligible upon separation for an immediate annuity from a Federal civilian retirement system or from the uniformed services. Such an employee is ineligible even if all or part of the annuity is offset by payments from a non-Federal retirement system the employee elected instead of Federal civilian retirement benefits or disability benefits received from the Department of Veterans Affairs.