Federal Employee Resignation: Dates, Pay and Benefits

If you are trying to leave without missing a paycheck, benefit deadline, or important record, confirm the separation path and timing before you file. With an ordinary voluntary federal employee resignation, you choose the effective date. That date shapes your final pay, leave payout, and benefit deadlines. Retirement, a buyout, a reduction in force (RIF), and resignation during an adverse action follow different rules. Confirm your path before choosing a date, then plan for the money and coverage that follow and save the records you may need if you return to federal service. If you are comparing paths, see federal reduction in force help, federal employee buyout offer, and the federal deferred resignation program.

This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice; confirm individual dates and rights with the appropriate servicing office.

Confirm that ordinary resignation fits your situation

An ordinary resignation is a voluntary separation that you start and control. Under 5 CFR 715.202, you may resign at any time, choose the effective date, and place your reason in the official record. You may also ask to withdraw the resignation before it takes effect. Your agency can deny that request for a documented reason, such as having already hired your replacement. Wanting to avoid a pending adverse action is not a valid reason for the agency to deny withdrawal.

Retirement follows its own eligibility rules and annuity paperwork. A buyout is distinct from a deferred-resignation arrangement. Check the written offer or agreement with your servicing HR office before choosing a date. If the agency starts a reduction in force (RIF), that path follows separate notice and benefit rules. Resigning during a proposed removal or another adverse action can involve separate rights. Check those rights before you sign anything, and use the process that matches your situation before you choose a date.

How much notice to give

The sources on this page do not set a government-wide two-week rule. Notice is usually a courtesy your agency may specify in writing. For wording, delivery, and agency examples, use what to include in a federal employee resignation letter. Shorter notice can leave less time for handoff and for HR to confirm your effective date; it does not by itself change the 5 CFR 715.202 right to resign on a date you choose.

Check each pay and benefit clock before choosing an effective date

Under 5 CFR 715.202, you control the effective date. Completing a full biweekly pay period may affect leave accrual, but an end-of-pay-period date does not protect every benefit. FEHB coverage ends at the close of the pay period in which you separate, while Basic FEGLI stops on the separation date, subject to its 31-day extension. Ask HR, payroll, and benefits staff to confirm how your proposed date will affect leave, pay, and coverage before you file.

Check any service milestone within reach before you file. NIH guidance says five years of creditable service meets the service requirement for a deferred FERS annuity payable later. A short wait may help you reach that threshold or complete another pay period for leave-accrual purposes.

Pay that arrives after your last day

Your final regular paycheck covers the hours you worked and follows your agency's normal payroll cycle. Your unused annual leave is paid separately. Under 5 CFR 550.1203, the agency must make a lump-sum payment for accumulated and accrued annual leave after separation. It calculates the amount using the pay you would have received if you had remained employed until the leave ran out. National Endowment for the Humanities guidance says leave balances are typically paid in the pay period after separation. The timing follows each agency's process rather than one government-wide countdown, so ask payroll when to expect it.

Unused sick leave is not paid as a lump sum. Office of Personnel Management guidance says it remains on your record and may be recredited if you later return to federal employment.

How resignation affects your benefits

Each benefit runs its own clock. Under 5 CFR 870.601, your Basic FEGLI life insurance stops on your separation date, but you get a 31-day extension at no cost and the right to convert to an individual policy during that window. FEHB uses a different termination clock: coverage ends at the close of the pay period in which you separate, then extends 31 days free, and after that you can elect up to 18 months of Temporary Continuation of Coverage or convert to an individual plan, per the NEH fact sheet for separating employees.

Your TSP account doesn't disappear. TSP Fact Sheet 29 explains that once you leave federal employment you can no longer make employee contributions, but your existing balance stays invested and you keep secure online access to manage it. If you have an outstanding TSP loan, you'll need to decide whether to pay it off, keep making payments after separation, or let it be declared a taxable distribution, so review your options before your last day rather than after.

FERS is a separate decision from TSP. If you have at least five years of creditable civilian service, you may have met the minimum service requirement for a deferred FERS annuity, subject to the applicable age rules and to keeping that eligibility intact. Confirm your creditable service before acting. NIH guidance says that taking a refund of retirement deductions forfeits the right to a deferred FERS annuity based on that service. Leaving federal service after 10 years covers the deferred-annuity timing questions this page does not.

Save the records you may need later

Under 5 CFR 715.202, the reason you give for resigning becomes part of your official personnel record, which can matter if you return. Before separation, visit eOPF and save your personnel history documents, including any SF-50s you may need later. Retain only personal employment records you are authorized to keep, such as eOPF forms, SF-50s, leave and earnings statements, and personal benefits correspondence. Do not copy agency work files or sensitive government information.

Payroll-portal access follows separate rules. NIH guidance says former employees may retain myPay access for up to one year, but a PIV card is no longer a login option after separation, so they must use a username and password. Before your last day, establish any required personal credentials, verify your contact information, and confirm with your payroll provider how you will retrieve later pay statements and tax forms.

Once your date is set, what to include in a federal employee resignation letter covers the notice itself, and what happens to federal employee benefits after resignation covers FEHB, FEGLI, TSP, and leave after you leave. If you are exploring private-sector roles, translate your federal experience on FedUp.work.