Q. I am currently working as a General Schedule employee, and I have bought back my eight years active duty. It is paid in full. If I go back on active duty, would I get that deposit paid back to me, or do I lose it? A. It would only be paid back in you separated from the government and asked for a refund of all your retirement contributions. Doing so would void all future entitlement to a retirement annuity.
Monthly Archives: January, 2012
Q. I am a federal annuitant who retired under the Civil Service Retirement System Offset program. I retired at age 55 with 30 years of service. Prior to age 62, I received the full retirement payments of a CSRS annuitant. Eight months after my 62nd birthday, I received a letter from the Office of Personnel Management stating that my annuity would be reduced by about $456 a month. I was further assessed a reduction of another $255 for each of the eight months of overpayments I had received. Apparently, I had fallen through a crack, and an audit showed the…
Q. I’m buying back 10 years and became a regular rural carrier in 2004. Does this mean, in 2014 I’ll be considered a 20-year mailman and at 30 years and minimum retirement age (55 years), I can retire? What exactly would I be collecting? A. When you reach your minimum retirement age and have 30 years service, you will be eligible to retire. Your Federal Employees Retirement System annuity will be calculated using the following formula: 0.01 x your high-3 x your total years of service (actual and active-duty military for which you’ve paid a deposit).
Q. I previously worked for the federal government (CSRS, full time) from 1966 to 1969. I quit civil service for college, and then went active duty from 1976 to 1979. The private sector did not work for me, so I went back to federal civil service in May 1983 (CSRS, full time). My service computation date showed at March 1977, I plan to retire in March 2012 (I would be 65 years old) and I will not be eligible for Social Security benefits. Would I have to make a redeposit of my military service (1976-79) in order for those three…
Q. Does the Federal Employees Health Benefits program offer a Medicare Advantage Plan? A. No.
Q. I am 64 with 3½ years in the Federal Employees Retirement System. I realize I need five years in FERS to qualify for a FERS pension. I bought back two years of military service time. Do these two years, added to the 3½ years in FERS, allow me to retire with a FERS pension? A. No, they don’t. You need to have five years of actual FERS service to be eligible for an annuity.
Q. Why doesn’t the Federal Employees Health Benefits program offer a self-plus-one option for health insurance like the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program? The cost should not be the same for one plus a spouse as it is for a whole family. I would rather pay two self-only premiums than that for self plus family. The difference between self only and self plus family is staggering. A. The FEHB law doesn’t provide for that option, and serious consideration has never been given to changing it.
Q. Is there such a thing as a buyout for Civil Service Retirement System employees who are already eligible to retire? A. When an agency offers a buyout, it does so to encourage employees to retire who would otherwise not do so. It confines those offers to individuals in organizations, occupations and grade levels where the need for staff reductions is greatest. The fact that someone is already eligible to retire would have no effect on his ability to accept a buyout.