Impact of Breaks in Service on Your FEGLI Coverage

It’s not uncommon for federal employees to take breaks in service and then come back to work for their employing agency, reinstated into their prior position. Under such situations, what happens to your FEGLI coverage and a break in service?

Your life insurance cover is not active when you are on a break from federal employment. However, you may be enrolled back into the program at the same Basic and Optional coverage levels when you rejoin, subject to certain conditions being met.

If you are on a break for less than 180 days, you automatically get back whatever Basic and Optional coverage you had at the time of separation. If at this time, you wish to elect for more coverage, you can do so by providing the required medical information or evidence of a life event.

FEGLI Coverage and a Break in Service After 180 Days

If you rejoin the federal workforce after a break in service of 180 days or more, you are automatically enrolled into FEGLI with the same Basic and Optional coverage you had in your prior position before separation.

In this case, you have 60 days to elect for more Optional insurance, if you don’t already have the maximum. This is applicable regardless of the coverage you had before. If you choose not to make any new elections, you are still enrolled in whatever optional elections you made before separation.

Also, note that waivers are not applicable when you rejoin the federal workforce after more than 180 days. So if you had waived your federal life insurance coverage before the break in service, this waiver is not valid when you rejoin, and you are automatically enrolled for FEGLI Basic coverage – unless you choose to waive coverage once more.

If you rejoin within 180 days after a break in service, any waiver you had previously asked for will still be in effect.