CFR > Title 5 - Administrative Personnel > CHAPTER I—OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT > SUBCHAPTER B—CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS (parts 110 to 990) > PART 838—COURT ORDERS AFFECTING RETIREMENT BENEFITS > SUBPART F—Terminology Used in Court Orders Affecting Employee Annuities or Refunds of Employee Contributions (§838.601 to §838.625) > 838.623—Computing lengths of service.

838.623—Computing lengths of service.

(a) Sections 838.242 and 838.441 contain information on how OPM calculates lengths of service.
(b) Unless the court order otherwise expressly directs—
(1) For the purpose of describing a period of time to be excluded from any element of a computation, the term “military service” means military service as defined in section 8331(13) of title 5, United States Code, and does not include civilian service with the Department of Defense or the Coast Guard; and
(2) For the purpose of describing a period of time to be included in any element of a computation, the term “military service” means all periods of military and civilian service performed with the Department of Defense or the Coast Guard.
(c) (1) When a court order contains a formula for dividing employee annuity that requires a computation of service worked as of a date prior to separation and using terms such as “years of service,” “total service,” “service performed,” or similar terms, the time attributable to unused sick leave will not be included.
(2) When a court order contains a formula for dividing employee annuity that requires a computation of “creditable service” (or some other phrase using “credit” or its equivalent) as of a date prior to retirement, unused sick leave will be included in the computation (involving a CSRS employee annuity or the CSRS component of a FERS employee annuity) as follows:
(i) If the amount of unused sick leave is specified, the court order awards a portion of the employee annuity equal to the monthly employee annuity at retirement times a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of months of “creditable service” as of the date specified plus the number of months of unused sick leave specified (which sum is rounded to eliminate partial months) and whose denominator is the months of “creditable service” used in the retirement computation.
(ii) If the amount of unused sick leave is not specified, the court order awards a portion of the employee annuity equal to the monthly rate at the time of retirement times a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of months of “creditable service” as of the date specified (no sick leave included) and whose denominator is the number of months of “creditable service” used in the retirement computation (sick leave included).
(d) (1) General language such as “benefits earned as an employee with the U.S. Postal Service * * *” provides only that CSRS retirement benefits are subject to division and does not limit the period of service included in the computation (i.e., service performed with other Government agencies will be included).
(2) To limit the computation of benefits to a particular period of employment, the court order must—
(i) Use language expressly limiting the period of service to be included in the computation (e.g., “only U.S. Postal Service” or “exclusive of any service other than U.S. Postal Service employment”); or
(ii) Specify the number of months to be included in the computation; or
(iii) Describe specifically the period of service to be included in the computation (e.g., “only service performed during the period Petitioner and Defendant were married” or “benefits based on service performed through the date of divorce”).