Each employee must elect or waive Option A, Option B, and Option C coverage, in a manner designated by OPM, within 60 days after becoming eligible unless, during earlier employment, he or she filed an election or waiver that remains in effect. The 60-day time limit for Option B or Option C begins on the 1st day after February 28, 1981, on which an individual is an employee as defined in § 870.101.

An employee of the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority who elects to be considered a Federal employee under section 153 of Public Law 104-134 (110 Stat. 1321) must elect or waive Option A, Option B, and Option C coverage within 31 days after the later of:

The date his or her employment with the Authority begins, or

The date the Authority receives his or her election to be considered a Federal employee.

Within 6 months after an employee becomes eligible, an employing office may determine that the employee was unable, for reasons beyond his or her control, to elect any type of Optional insurance within the time limit. In this case, the employee must elect or waive that type of Optional insurance within 60 days after being notified of the determination. The insurance is retroactive to the 1st day of the 1st pay period beginning after the date the individual became eligible (or after April 1, 1981, whichever is later), if the employee was in pay and duty status that day. If the employee was not in pay and duty status that day, the coverage becomes effective the 1st day after the date the employee returned to pay and duty status. The individual must pay the full cost of the Optional insurance from that date for the time that he or she is in pay status (or retired or receiving compensation with unreduced Optional insurance).

Any employee who does not file a Life Insurance Election with his or her employing office, in a manner designated by OPM, specifically electing any type of Optional insurance, is considered to have waived it and does not have that type of Optional insurance.

For the purpose of having Option A as an employee, an election of this insurance filed on or before February 28, 1981, is considered to have been cancelled effective at the end of the pay period which included March 31, 1981, unless the employee did not actually enter on duty in pay status during the 1st pay period that began on or after April 1, 1981. In that case, the election is considered to have been cancelled on the 1st day after the end of the next pay period in which the employee actually entered on duty in pay status. In order to have Option A as an employee after the date of this cancellation, an employee must specifically elect the coverage by filing the Life Insurance Election with his or her employing office, subject to § 870.504(a) or 870.506(b).

Optional insurance is effective the 1st day an employee actually enters on duty in pay status on or after the day the employing office receives the election. If the employee is not in pay and duty status on the date the employing office receives the election, the coverage becomes effective the next date that the employee is in pay and duty status.

For an employee whose Optional insurance stopped for a reason other than a waiver, the insurance is reinstated on the 1st day he or she actually enters on duty in pay status in a position in which he or she again becomes eligible.