Q: My husband recently died, and we were devastated that our grandson, who is disabled, and has lived with us as a son since birth was denied a survivor’s annuity. We have one item that I thought might prove that he was really our de facto son. Our daughter, his mother, years ago signed a paper that resigned all her parental rights in favor of me and my husband. There is no father recognized on the birth certificate. Is this worth appealing with this paperwork? I don’t want to waste my time, but he really was our son in every…
Monthly Archives: August, 2010
Q. I am a retired Federal LEO on FERS. I was wondering if you know or can find out what the raise in premiums, if any, will be for Federal Blue Cross Blue Shield in 2011? A.Information on FEHB rates for 2011 hasn’t been released yet. When they are, you’ll find them prominently displayed in the Federal Times.
Q. My mom is 55 and has been receiving Social Security for over 30 years. She and my dad were married for over 10 years. My dad recently passed away at age 70 after having a stroke and retiring five years ago. The only income he received was from Social Security. Is my mom eligible to receive survivors benefits and also keep her benefits or would she have to pick one or the other? A. As a rule, she would receive the larger of the two benefits. However, the rules are complicated, so she should talk to a representative in…
Q. For most employees, the FERS Annuity Supplement is not actually payable in the year after they retire. If you retire at the end of a year from a full-time position, your earnings for that year will mostly likely fail the earnings test so the annuity supplement is reduced to zero. So at best, you have to wait at least one year after retirement to get the supplement. Is this true? It doesn’t seem fair to me, but I have a few years in which I can prepare for that one-year wait if it is true. Any earnings you have…
Q. I retired on disability retirement 10 months before the age of 55 with 32 years of service. I was able to go back to work after a little over a year. I am restricted to 80 percent of my salary. My question is will this restriction be for the rest of my working life? A. OPM will no longer ask you to report your earnings after you reach age 60.
Q. If I retire prior to the end of the leave year, say March 20, 2011, will I get paid annual leave for the entire leave year or just the three months that I am currently in service? A. You will only be paid for the annual leave that you have earned and still have to your credit on the day you retire.
Q. I will be retiring from a federal law enforcement position at the end of August 2010 with 25 years of service at age 53. I was born in 1957. I was eligible to retire at age 50. When am I subject to the earnings test for my annuity supplement? Is it age 56 since I was born in 1957? A. The Social Security earnings limit applies only to earnings from wages and self employment, not from other sources of income.
Q. I currently have a total of 18 years active-duty and guard service. In 2002 I started working for DoD. The seven years I have for active duty has counted toward my leave and I’m currently buying back my time to count toward retirement. My question is, since I am buying back that seven years to count toward retirement in civil service, will it still account towards a retirement with the Air National Guard? If yes, will there be some kind of penalty once I start collecting the military retirement? A. Making a deposit to get credit for your active-duty…
Q. I was hired Aug. 15, 1983 ,and was placed in CSRS and have been in CSRS ever since. I now hear that employees that had less than five years in CSRS before Jan. 1, 1984, were supposed to have been converted to FERS. Am I in the wrong system? A. No, you’re in the right retirement system. The five-year rule only applies to retirement coverage determinations made after January 1, 1987, when an employee was covered by CSRS and Social Security. If such an employee didn’t have five years of CSRS coverage on Dec. 31, 1986, he would have…
Q. I work for the United States Postal Service; at my agency we do not receive locality pay. If I decided to leave USPS to go to another government agency that offers locality pay, how would that be incorporated into my current base pay? The way I think it works would be you take my current base pay and add locality pay on top of that. Am I correct? A. Since the Postal Service pay system is completely different from the GS or wage systems, there’s no direct correspondence between their grades and yours. In effect, you would receive the salary…