News & information
Active letter carrier COLA
Based on the Feb. 26 release of the January 2015 Consumer Price Index (CPI), there will be no fifth cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for letter carriers under the 2011-2016 National Agreement, because there was no increase in the CPI between July 2014 and January 2015.
Retiree COLA
The accumulation toward the 2016 cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for both Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) was 0 percent following the Feb. 26 release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January 2015. The 2016 COLA will be based on the increase in the average CPI between the third quarter of 2013 and the third quarter of 2014.
The 2015 cost of living adjustment (COLA) for federal annuitants under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) will be 1.7 percent. This COLA was based on the increase in the average Consumer Price Index for Workers (CPI-W) between the third quarter of 2013 and the third quarter of 2014. The COLA will be included in annuity payments starting in January 2015.
CSRS annuities receive full COLAs; COLAs for FERS annuities are payable for retirees 62 and older and may be reduced by up to one percentage point from the increase in the CPI.
FECA COLA
Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA) cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are applicable only in cases where death or disability occurred more than one year prior to the adjustment’s effective date.
Based on the Jan. 16 release of the December 2014 Consumer Price Index (CPI), the 2015 FECA COLA was set at 0.3 percent. It will become effective on March 1.
The accumulation toward the 2016 FECA COLA was 0 percent following the Feb. 26 release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January 2015. The 2016 FECA COLA will be based on the increase in the average CPI between the third quarter of 2014 and the third quarter of 2015 and will become effective on March 1, 2016.
For more information, click here to find the “January 2015 cost-of-living adjustment memo.”