---
kind: "section"
citation: "5 C.F.R. § 550.704"
title: "5"
number: "550.704"
heading: "Eligibility for severance pay."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/5/550.704"
---

# §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](/cfr/5/550.705.md); 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;
  - (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; or
  - (6) Occupies a position in Schedule Policy/Career of the excepted service and his or her agency identifies unacceptable performance or misconduct as the basis for separation in a written notice to the employee.

## Notes

### Amendments

[55 FR 6593, Feb. 26, 1990, as amended by E.O. 14410, 91 FR 34894, June 10, 2026]

### Authority

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 5595; E.O. 11257, 3 CFR, 1964-1965 Comp., p. 357.

### Source

Source: 55 FR 6593, Feb. 26, 1990, unless otherwise noted.

### Source

Source: 33 FR 12458, Sept. 4, 1968, unless otherwise noted.

### Amendments

[55 FR 6593, Feb. 26, 1990, as amended by E.O. 14410, 91 FR 34894, June 10, 2026]