Q. I have been in a primary firefighter position for roughly nine years. I am curious what will happen to my FERS retirement calculations if I move into a position that is not covered by special retirement rules, for example, a recreation job. How will the nine years of firefighter time be figured into my retirement calculations? I understand that more money (1.7 percent) is deducted from my paycheck for my retirement fund than my co-workers who are not firefighters, so that must come into play when my retirement annuity is calculated, right? I’ve been looking at the FERS handbook,…
Monthly Archives: March, 2010
Q. I will be eligible to retire at age 60 with 20 years and five months in January 2012 as a FERS employee, because of Parkinson’s Disease that is slowly progressing and under my neurologist advice will prevent me from working any further. I would like to know how the Social Security Special Retirement Supplement (SRS) is calculated and if my military pension and purchasing a TSP annuity with a small partial withdrawal will have any effect on that supplement. Also, by doing so will it decrease the amount of Social Security when I reach age 62? A. You can…
Q. If I have six years of service as a grade school teacher for the New York City Board of Education and I decided to go work for the DoD as a teacher, would those six years count towards a DoD retirement? A. No, they wouldn’t count.
Q. I will be covered by a Civil Service FERS/CSRS Component retirement & am currently considering an overseas assignment where a cost-of-living allowance (COLA)/post allowance (PA) will be paid. Since I lose my current stateside locality pay when overseas, will this COLA/PA be included in computations for my high-3 retirement calculation? A. No, it won’t be included when computing your high-3.
Q. Do you think there will be a buyout for the carriers if there’s a move to five-day delivery? A. Making a prediction tied to something that might happen would be a foolish waste of time.
Q. Will I lose my federal years of service for retirement if I get out of the military after nine years and continue my education, then decide to join the U.S. Marshals or a federal agency after a three-year break. Does my 20 years of service have to be continuous? A. You would only be able to get credit for your period of active-duty service if you made a deposit to the civilian retirement fund after being hired. Even then, those years would not qualify as covered service under the enhanced benefit provision for law enforcement officers. To retire under…
Q: I have a question about minimum retirement age-plus 10. I am 55 and have 27 ½ years of service. If I retire at age 56, am I to understand that my annuity would be reduced by about 30 percent if I started collecting it right away? Also what would happen to my health benefits? Could I still use them immediately upon retiring? I have 14 years of frozen service under the old Civil Service Retirement System so how would that be affected? A: If you retire under the MRA+10 provision and begin receiving your benefits immediately, the Federal Employees…
Q: Are Defense Department buyouts for fiscal 2010 forthcoming? If so, when? A: We haven’t heard anything.
Q: I hired on with the federal government Oct. 15, 1985. At that time, I wasn’t given a choice of Federal Employees Retirement System or Civil Service Retirement System, everybody was FERS. However, I did buyback my Air Force service and my service computation date is April 15, 1982. This maybe fishing, but should I have been given the option to go CSRS if the service computation date is in 1982? I also had about four months of civil service in a temporary job in 1978 if that makes any difference. Is there any circumstance that would ever allow someone…
Q: I retired from the Army in August 2008, after 28 years of service. I currently receive my retirement pay and VA Compensation. If I get hired for a government job, how will my current benefits be affected? A: Being hired as a civilian employee of the federal government won’t have any effect on your military retired pay or Veterans Affairs compensation. However, if you want to get credit for that period of active duty service in determining your eligibility to retire from a civilian job and in your annuity computation, you’d need to make a deposit to the Civil…