Q. I am a retired civil service annuitant currently working as a rehired annuitant with the Homeland Security Department. I was re-employed as a rehired annuitant under the pension offset waiver, thus earning my full pension and salary. I was told when I complete my rehired annuitant employment, I can apply for a recalculation of my civil service annuity, based on a higher “highest 3 year average” I am now earning as a rehired annuitant. Please advise if this is true, and how I can apply for a recalculation of my annuity.
A. As a rule, annuitants who are re-employed with full salary and annuity aren’t entitled to receive any credit for that time for retirement purposes. You’ll need to make sure that the appointment you received does allow that to happen. If it does, you would be eligible for a supplemental annuity if you worked for between one and five years. That supplement would be based solely on that period of re-employment and would have no affect on the annuity you are currently receiving. If you worked for five or more years, you would be entitled to a redetermined annuity. In other words, your entire annuity would be recomputed to take into account any change in your high-3 and your total years of service. Supplemental or redetermined annuities are automatically calculated when an rehired annuitant once again retires.
