Q: As a Civil Service Retirement System employee who will have 30 years of service by mid-2011 but wont be 55 until the end of 2013, is there any way to retire in 2011? If so, what kinds of penalties would I face?
A: The only way you could retire before reaching age 55 would be if your agency were to offer you an opportunity to do so. Early outs are only offered when an agency has received approval from the Office of Personnel Management based on the agency’s need to downsize or restructure its work force; those opportunities usually are only for selected occupations and grades.
