President Obama last year sent a memorandum to agency heads in which he sought to ensure that agencies provide employees with the broadest possible support in balancing work, personal and family obligations. In response, the Office of Personnel Management issued draft regulations for comment. Final regulations, effective July 14, broaden the definition of family members and immediate relatives for purposes of sick leave, funeral leave, voluntary leave transfer, voluntary leave bank and emergency leave transfer. The modifications were made to Part 630, on absence and leave, of the Code of Federal Regulations. Section 630.201 defines a family member as an individual with…
Monthly Archives: August, 2010
Q: I am a FERS TRANSFER and I will be retiring with 30 years with CSRS and 13 years with FERS. If my husband’s SSI spousal portion is higher than my full SSI, can I take the full spousal portion or is it subject to windfall elimination provision, too? A: Because you will be receiving an annuity — in whole or part — from a retirement system where you didn’t pay Social Security taxes (CSRS), any spousal Social Security benefit to which you would otherwise be entitled would be affected by the government pension offset provision of law. The GPO…
Q: I’m a FERS employee. If I retire at my minimum retirement age of 56, with 20 years in, will the retirement supplement begin four years later when I turn 60? Or does it begin at my minimum retirement age of 56? Or am I ineligible to receive it if I don’t take it immediately on retirement? A: You would be retiring under the MRA+10 provision. First, no one retiring under that provision is eligible for the special retirement supplement. Second, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year (5/12 percent per month) that you were under…
Q: I have heard that if you work for 10 years in the legislative branch, then all your time in the executive branch converts to legislative branch time, for the sake of the multipliers under the CSRS retirement. Is this true? I am a FERS employee in the legislative branch with 10+ years of executive branch service. If the above is true, is it also applicable to FERS employees? A: CSRS legislative branch employees contribute an additional 1 percent to the retirement system. If they have five years of legislative branch service under their belts when they retire, their annuity…
Q: You answered the question below in a previous post. Can you give me the legal statute/instruction that states this so I can let my human resources department know? They are trying to tell me that my military service won’t count toward leave accrual time and I am in almost this exact situation as below. I am starting a general service job soon, but am getting some conflicting messages about how much leave I will accrue. I am a member of the U.S. Army Retired Reserve with about 14 years of active duty time. I will not receive military retired…
Q: If Congress passes the part-time employee equity act this fall, how would this impact a CSRS Offset employee with the last 20 years of service as a part-time employee? Would it make a substantial difference in the retirement benefit calculation to wait until this act passes before retiring? A: Where have you been? As of Oct. 28, 2009, Public Law 111-84 changed the way CSRS part-time employment would be calculated. To learn how that change would affect you, go to www.federaltimes.com. At my site, click on “read more.” Under Retirement, click on CSRS annuity computation, then continue to scroll…
Q: I work for the Postal Service and have four years of creditable military service. I started work after Oct. 1, 1982. If I pay my deposit and make monthly payments on my interest but do not pay back all the interest owed by my retirement date, will my credit (military service) be adjusted? How is it calculated? A: If you don’t complete your deposit, including accrued interest, by the date your retirement application is adjudicated by OPM, you won’t get any credit for that service. Instead, the money you did deposit will be returned to you.
Q: I have a question about CSRS/FERS military service payback. I served in the Air Force from April 1981 to May 1989. After separation I started working for a section of the DOJ in April 1990 under the FERS system. I know it is late in the game, but I am trying to do a buyback for my military time. I have heard different answers as to whether my military time would be considered a CSRS component or if it would be paid back as part of FERS. I am under the impression that it would be a CSRS component.…
Q: I retired in 2009 with 33 years under CSRS from an Excepted Service position with the Department of Defense Education Activity. As a CSRS annuitant, would my annuity be affected if I am now hired in a NAF flex position? If so, how? Would I still be able to retain my health and life insurance that I carried into retirement? (As I understand it, a NAF flex position includes no federal retirement, leave, etc. benefits, and the part-time hours are determined by the needs of the organization.) A: According to OPM, “Generally, if a CSRS or FERS annuitant is…
Q: I am considering a short-term FERS GS position and want to know about retirement eligibility. I have four years as a cadet at West Point (1966-1970), and this time was not part of my military retired pay (26 years of Army service). I know cadet time is allowable toward a FERS retirement, but I also know that there is a five-year minimum service requirement to be vested in FERS. Can I use the cadet time (I buy it back) toward the five-year minimum service requirement so that I only have to work one year to reach retirement eligibility? A:…