Last Updated: September 28, 2026 Reading Time: 14 min

Every federal employee has a stack of SF-50s, and almost nobody reads them until a RIF notice or a retirement estimate forces the issue. Learning how to read your SF-50 takes ten minutes. The catch is that the form was designed for HR, not for you: the date labeled "Service Computation Date" is your leave date, your tenure block hides half of what it means, and the factor that now ranks you first in a RIF is not printed on the form at all.

Quick Answers: Reading Your SF-50

Which SF-50 block decides whether I'm laid off first in a RIF?

No single block does. Since September 2, 2026, HR builds your tenure group (competitive or excepted service; Block 34 records the kind of position) and your subgroup from your appointment tenure (Block 24) and probationary status, then ranks you within the group by performance credit points from your ratings of record in the four-year window (up to three), plus veterans' preference points (Blocks 23 and 26), then subgroup, then service computation date. Your ratings are not printed on the SF-50 at all.

Is the service computation date on my SF-50 the one used for a RIF?

No. OPM titles Block 31 "Service Computation Date (Leave)" and its instructions send the preparer to the leave-accrual chapter. The RIF service computation date is a separate figure the agency builds under 5 CFR 351.505, and it is only a tie-breaker after performance credit and tenure subgroup.

Why does Block 24 not show my subgroup?

Because OPM tells agencies not to. The instruction for Block 24 reads "Enter appropriate tenure group. (Do not show subgroup.)" The subgroup is built at RIF time from your appointment type and probationary status.

My Block 26 says No. Did I lose my veterans' preference?

Usually not. Block 26 is "Veterans' Preference for Reduction in Force," and OPM marks it No for Senior Executive Service, Schedule C and Senate-confirmed appointees, where RIF preference does not apply. Block 23 still carries your preference code for hiring and adverse actions.

What do 7777 and 8888 mean in Block 37?

7777 means you are eligible for a bargaining unit but not represented by one. 8888 means you are ineligible for inclusion in a bargaining unit. Neither code says whether you joined or pay dues to a union.

My SF-50 shows 002 in Block 5-A. What is it?

A correction of an earlier action. OPM's instruction for Block 5-A says to enter 002 when the nature of action is a correction and 001 when it is a cancellation. Keep both the original and the corrected form.

How much notice must I get before a RIF separation?

At least 60 days of written notice under 5 U.S.C. 3502(d), unless the President shortens the period in writing for circumstances not reasonably foreseeable, and never to fewer than 30 days (3502(e)). The notice date also freezes your retention standing, so ratings recorded after the notice cannot change your rank. An agency may also set a cutoff date a specified number of days before notices go out; ratings recorded after it are not used for that RIF computation (5 CFR 351.503(c)(2)).

How do I get a copy of my SF-50?

Current employees go through their agency HR office, which controls the electronic OPF. Separated employees write to the National Personnel Records Center in Valmeyer, Illinois, or fax the request to 618-496-4903 or 618-496-4904, the numbers on OPM's FAQ.

Does my performance rating change my RIF standing?

Yes, and since September 2, 2026 it is the first thing that ranks you inside your tenure group. Each rating of record from the last four years scores 7 points for Level 5, 5 for Level 4, 3 for Level 3 and 0 for Level 2 or 1. The ratings inside the four-year window before the notice or cutoff date count, up to three. Three actual ratings are summed; with two, the missing one takes a proxy equal to their average; with one, that rating counts three times; with none, the agency uses the modal rating for your summary level pattern (5 CFR 351.503(f)).

Where are the SF-50 code meanings published?

Not in the block instructions. OPM's Guide to Processing Personnel Actions tells preparers to "Use The Guide to Data Standards to select the appropriate code" for Blocks 23, 30, 32, 34 and 35, and that guide now sits behind a government login.

The Block Map: What Each One Feeds

OPM's Guide to Processing Personnel Actions, Chapter 4, is the document HR uses to fill in the form. Read alongside the retention rules in 5 CFR part 351, it tells you which blocks matter and which rule consumes each one.

SF-50 block OPM's title for it What consumes it What it decides for you
5-A / 5-B Code / Nature of Action The GPPA chapter for that action Whether a separation is a RIF, a retirement or a resignation, which governs severance
5-C / 5-D Code / Legal Authority The GPPA chapter, primary authority first The statute or regulation the agency is invoking; 5-E/5-F hold a second authority
23 Veterans' Preference 5 U.S.C. 3502(a)(2); 5 CFR 351.504 Your preference code for appointment, adverse action, RIF and performance-based actions
24 Tenure 5 CFR 351.502 Your appointment tenure, which HR uses to build your RIF tenure subgroup; the form shows the tenure code only, never the subgroup
26 Veterans' Preference for Reduction in Force 5 CFR 351.504 Whether preference points carry into a RIF; marked "No" for SES, Schedule C and Senate-confirmed appointees
30 Retirement Plan CSRS and FERS Handbook Which annuity formula and contribution rate apply to you
31 Service Computation Date (Leave) GPPA Chapter 6 Your annual-leave accrual rate, and nothing else
34 Position Occupied Guide to Data Standards (codes); 5 CFR 351.501 (separate registers) Records the kind of position you occupy; the register split follows from it
37 Bargaining Unit Status OPM codes 7777 / 8888 Eligibility to be represented, not union membership
38 Duty Station Code Nine-digit state/city/county code The location that drives your locality pay
Not on the form RIF service computation date 5 CFR 351.505 The tie-breaker after performance credit and tenure subgroup
Not on the form Performance credit 5 CFR 351.503 Your rank inside your tenure group

Block 31 is the service computation date on the form, and OPM labels it for leave. The factor that now sorts a RIF register first, performance credit, has no block at all.

Block 24 Tells You Less Than It Looks Like It Does

Block 24 is a single digit, and OPM's instruction for it is blunt: "Enter appropriate tenure group. (Do not show subgroup.)" It records your appointment tenure; the RIF register groups defined in the amended rule are built by HR from that tenure, your appointment type and your probationary status. OPM also has agencies enter a zero for Senior Executive Service and Senate-confirmed presidential appointees, and for anyone not in one of the defined tenure groups.

Since the September 2, 2026 RIF rule took effect, the groups and subgroups changed shape. Under 5 CFR 351.502, competitive-service employees sit in one tenure group with two subgroups. Subgroup I is "each career employee (as that term is used in part 315 of this chapter) in the competitive service who, as of the date the employee receives a specific reduction in force notice, is not serving an initial probationary period." Subgroup II is everyone else in the competitive service who is not on probation and not on a temporary appointment of a year or less. Excepted-service employees are listed on a separate retention register.

The subgroup is the first tie-breaker on the register, and it is the part the form does not show. If you want to know your subgroup, you need your appointment type (Block 5-B and Block 34) and your probationary status, not Block 24 alone.

The Date on Your SF-50 Is Your Leave Date

Block 31 reads "Service Computation Date (Leave)." OPM's instruction says to enter the date in month-day-year form and then adds: "See Chapter 6 for instructions in computing the service computation date for leave accrual." That chapter sets how fast you earn annual leave. It does not set your RIF standing.

The RIF service computation date lives in 5 CFR 351.505. That section makes "all civilian service as a Federal employee" creditable, adds most active uniformed service, and then puts the job on the agency: "The agency is responsible for establishing the service computation date applicable to each employee competing for retention under this part." The date "includes all actual creditable service." It can differ from your leave date because leave credit and retention credit do not count the same service the same way.

Under the pre-September rules, this RIF date was also the place where performance credit lived, as added years. That is gone. The RIF date is now the last tie-breaker, used only when two employees have the same performance credit and the same tenure subgroup.

If you retire rather than face a RIF, a third date matters: the retirement service computation date, which Block 30 points toward through the CSRS and FERS Handbook. The OPF and eOPF Review Checklist walks through all of the dates in your folder; this post stays at the form level.

The Factor That Ranks You First Isn't on the Form

Under 5 CFR 351.501 as amended, an agency builds its register "within each tenure group, by performance credit in descending order as determined in § 351.503, as augmented by veterans' preference as described in § 351.504." Only when employees tie on that number does the register fall back to tenure subgroup and then service computation date.

Performance credit is a point total. Section 351.503 assigns "7 for a Level 5 (Outstanding or equivalent) summary level, 5 for a Level 4 (Exceeds Fully Successful or equivalent) summary level, 3 for a Level 3 (Fully Successful or equivalent) summary level, 0 for a Level 2 (Minimally Satisfactory or equivalent) summary level, 0 for a Level 1 (Unacceptable) summary level," then sums the values for your "three most recent summary level ratings of record received during the 4-year period prior to the date of issuance of reduction in force notices." Three Outstanding ratings score 21. Three Fully Successful ratings score 9. Fewer than three ratings in the window triggers the proxy rules in 351.503(f): two ratings plus a proxy equal to their average, one rating counted three times, or the modal rating when there are none.

None of that is on your SF-50. Ratings of record are separate documents in your OPF. The SF-50 shows the outcome of a rating only when it triggers an action, such as a quality step increase or a within-grade denial. So the single most important input to your RIF standing has to be verified somewhere other than the form this post is about. The 8-year gap post explains why a rating that was never issued can cost you, and the final rule explainer covers the transition dates.

Blocks 23 and 26: One Preference, Two Uses

Block 23 is "Veterans' Preference." OPM's instruction says to "Enter the appropriate code based on preference for appointment, adverse action, reduction in force, or performance-based action purposes." One code, four legal uses. When code 7 is cited, the form must also carry remark E59.

Block 26 is a separate yes/no field titled "Veterans' Preference for Reduction in Force." It is completed whenever Block 23 is. OPM tells preparers: "For employees to whom preference for reduction in force does not apply, enter 'X' in 'No' block," and names the Senior Executive Service, Schedule C and Senate-confirmed appointments as the cases where it does not apply. A "No" there for an SES member is correct, not a clerical error.

What the preference is worth changed on September 2, 2026. Under 5 CFR 351.504, "each preference eligible employee who has a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more receives an additional 5 points added to their performance credit." Every other preference eligible gets 3 points. Non-preference employees get 0. The old AD/A/B subgroup labels still appear on the register, but they now describe a point bonus rather than an absolute ranking tier.

Check your own category before you trust either block. The Veterans' Preference Calculator takes your service era and campaign or disability status and returns your preference category and exam points, which is the finding Block 23 should reflect. The code values themselves are not something this post can print, for a reason covered below.

Blocks 5-A Through 5-F: The Action and Its Authority

Block 5-A holds the nature-of-action code and 5-B its title. Both are "Complete on all actions." Two codes are defined right in the block instruction: "When nature of action is a correction, enter '002;' when it is a cancellation, enter '001.'" If you hold an SF-50 with 002 in Block 5-A, it replaces an earlier form, and you should keep both.

Blocks 5-C and 5-D carry the primary legal authority, the "first one listed for the action in the chapter that explains how to process the action." Blocks 5-E and 5-F hold a second authority when one applies. OPM requires the codes in the order the chapter lists them, so the order on your form is not arbitrary.

For severance, 5-B is the block that matters, because the nature of action is how the agency records which kind of separation happened. The Severance Calculator takes your current salary, creditable service and age and returns the estimate in weeks and dollars once 5-B shows a qualifying separation.

Blocks 30, 34, 37 and 38: The Quiet Ones

Block 30, Retirement Plan. OPM's instruction sends the preparer to "The CSRS and FERS Handbook for Personnel and Payroll Offices" to decide FICA coverage and retirement system. This is the block to check against any retirement estimate: if it says a system you do not recognize, get it corrected before you run numbers through the FERS Retirement Calculator.

Block 34, Position Occupied. It is completed on appointments, conversions, separations and on the change "from a Senior Executive Service Career Reserved position to Senior Executive Service General position or vice versa." Under the amended 351.501, competitive-service and excepted-service employees sit on separate retention registers, and this block is where the form records which kind of position you occupy; the code values themselves are in the Guide to Data Standards, not in Chapter 4.

Block 37, Bargaining Unit Status. OPM's instruction: "When an employee is eligible but not represented in a bargaining unit, enter '7777.'" Code 8888 marks employees ineligible for inclusion in a bargaining unit. The block records eligibility for representation, not membership.

Block 38, Duty Station Code. A nine-digit state, city and county code for the location in Block 39. "When an employee's official duty station is not in a city, enter '0000' for the city portion." This is the location your locality pay follows, which is why a duty-station change shows up on an SF-50 even when nothing else about your job moved.

Why You Can't Find the Code Tables Cited Anywhere

OPM splits SF-50 documentation across two publications. Chapter 4 says which block to complete and when. For the code values in Blocks 21, 23, 30, 32, 34 and 35, its instruction is a one-line pointer each time: "Use The Guide to Data Standards to select" (Blocks 21, 23 and 30) or "to enter" (Blocks 32, 34 and 35) "the appropriate code."

That second guide used to be a public PDF. Its old address now returns a 404, and OPM's current data-standards reference redirects to a government collaboration site behind a login. That is why every SF-50 explainer you find online lists tenure codes, preference codes and retirement-plan codes without citing a source: the source is no longer reachable by the public. This post prints only the code values that appear in Chapter 4 itself (001, 002, 7777, 8888, the zero rule for Block 24 and the E59 remark). For anything else, ask HR to point you at the current data-standards entry rather than trusting a table with no citation.

Getting Your SF-50s

OPM's personnel-documentation FAQ is short on this point. For current employees: "Please contact the HR office within your agency for access to your records." Your agency controls the electronic OPF, and the OPF and eOPF Review Checklist covers what to check once you are in it.

For separated employees, records go to the National Archives' National Personnel Records Center (civilian), 1411 Boulder Blvd, Valmeyer, IL 62295. OPM's FAQ lists fax numbers 618-496-4903 and 618-496-4904 for requests. The OPM document request post covers what to include.

If you have received a RIF notice, the form review is only step one. The 60-day RIF notice action guide and the assignment rights post cover what to do with the clock that the notice starts, and the CTAP and ICTAP guide covers what follows a separation.

Check Your Service Dates

Use the free Service Computation Date Calculator to enter your federal and military service periods, then check what it derives against the date printed in Block 31. It also scores your RIF performance credit from your three most recent ratings under the September 2, 2026 rules. Run your dates →

Sources

  • OPM, The Guide to Processing Personnel Actions, Chapter 4, Update 93, Job Aid "Completing the SF-50 and Corresponding Parts of the SF-52," pp. 24–45 (Blocks 5-A through 45).
  • OPM, Reduction in Force, final rule, FR 2026-15665, 91 FR 49178 (August 3, 2026), effective September 2, 2026: 5 CFR 351.501 (order of retention), 351.502 (tenure), 351.503 (performance credit), 351.504 (veterans' preference), 351.505 (length of service).
  • 5 U.S.C. 3502(a) (retention factors), 3502(d) (60-day notice) and 3502(e) (Presidential shortening, 30-day floor).
  • OPM, Personnel Documentation FAQ (access to records; National Personnel Records Center address; fax 618-496-4903 or 4904).