Q: I have 20 years and nine months of service as a military technician. I have switched to Active Guard Reserve status, and I have been on leave without pay for five years. If I decide to stay AGR can I draw 20.9 percent of my technician salary at 62, or another age? I don’t want to take a cash buyout now if I can defer it and receive 20.9 percent of my high-3 years sometime later. Could I possibly buy back the five years LWOP also, making it 25 years and nine months? A: As a FERS employee with…
Monthly Archives: September, 2011
Q: I am a 60-year-old CSRS retiree enrolled in an FEHB family plan. My wife is several years younger than me. If I enroll in Medicare at age 65, what happens to my wife’s FEHB coverage? Do I need to continue my FEHB plan even after I enroll in Medicare to insure she is covered? Would I be better off forgoing Medicare and just relying on my FEHB plan? A: In order for your wife to continue her coverage, you’ll need to maintain your FEHB enrollment in the self and family option. While you will be eligible for Medicare Part…
Q: I am a retired federal employee and I was receiving a monthly annuity of $4,200, but when I recently turned 62, OPM reduced my annuity to $3,550, and told me it was because I was eligible to collect Social Security benefits, even though I am not collecting Social Security benefits and do not plan to do so until I am at least 65. I did have two years of active military service, which I paid for while I was working, so that those two years would be figured into my annuity calculation. It appears to me that the federal…
Q: I worked for IHS for five years under FERS. I left federal employment for four years and rolled by FERS pension into my new employer pension plan. I used my TSP funds to purchase those years of service. I have recently started back to work at IHS in the same position I left. Can I re-purchse those five years of federal service that I had rolled into the last employer pension? I took that pension and rolled it back into the TSP account already. So I no longer have retirement benefits with the previous employer. A: Yes, you can…
Q: I plan to retire in 2011 under CSRS. There is a new part-time job in my postal facility which is 12 to 16 hours. Can I apply for this job after I retire? This is a permanent part-time position with benefits. Will this affect my CSRS retirement? Will I be covered under FERS? A: Your salary would be offset by the amount of your annuity. Therefore, in all likelihood, your annuity would be greater than the salary of a part-time position, which would mean that your salary would be zero. If you were rehired, you’d be a CSRS Offset…
Q: I have 24 years combined service with the postal service and the military. If I retire next year, I will be 58 with 25 years of service. If I retire, would I be charged the 5 percent reduction in retirement for two years because I will be 60 in two years, or would I be penalized the 5 percent for 4 years, since I would not be 62. A: You’d be penalized 5 percent for every year (5/12 percent per month) that you are under age 62.
Q: I am a Senior Executive Service member and will be eligible to retire under FERS/Law Enforcement Retirement in December 2012. However, my family would like to move from the Washington D.C. area prior to that time. Can I apply my accrued Annual Leave to leave earlier? I will have approximately two to three months of annual leave to apply. A: There is no provision in law or regulation that would allow you to do that.
Q: I worked for the Defense Department at an Air Force base for 4 1/2 years under FERS. While at work, I got hurt and became disabled. Within a month they RIFed me. That was in 1997. I am now 60 years old and still on OWCP and unable to work after several operations and numerous procedures. What happens when I reach retirement age in 2 years? Will my income just stop? A: As long as you are disabled, you will continue to receive workers’ compensation. To preserve your rights, you should have applied for a disability annuity within one…
In my Aug. 15 and Sept. 5 columns, I described eligibility for and calculation of disability retirement benefits. In this column, I’ll discuss workers’ compensation, which may be a better option if you are disabled or injured in the line of duty. To be considered disabled, you and your agency must provide the Office of Personnel Management with proof that you are unable to perform on the job because of a disabling condition. It doesn’t matter if the disease or injury that disabled you was incurred on or off the job. Further, your agency must certify that you aren’t qualified…
Q. In light of the recent announcement about getting rid of 220,000 postal employees by 2015, do you still see a new round of early retirement offers any time soon, similar to what was offered on the West Coast and to managers earlier this year? Or will the Postal Service just try to get authorization to lay off all of the 220,000? I am a 25-year rural carrier who would be glad to accept early retirement at this point. A. I’ve sent your question to our Office of Currently Unanswerable Questions. What you read was a proposal. Whether anything will come of…