Q: 1. Early retirement at age 51 and 23 years of service — If RIF, what will be offered to me for my retirement plan? 2. CSRS versus FERS — started with government on May 8, 1985; I started with CSRS and my agency changed me to FERS, because I was informed I should have been hired with FERS. 3. Quit government — Oct. 1, 2010, through April 7, 2011; worked as a contractor. How many years and months of service should I have reflected on my OFP records? 4. Promoted to GS-13-5 in 2009 — when should I expect another…
Monthly Archives: February, 2012
Q: I read that unused compensatory time will be paid in a lump sum at retirement. Is the same true for unused credit hours earned? A: Yes, you would be paid for a maximum of 24 unused credit hours at your basic rate of pay.
Q: I will have to retire (age 57) in January 2014 as a federal law enforcement officer with 29 1/2 years of service under FERS. If I am correct, the Social Security Supplement will be calculated by multiplying my Social Security estimate of $1,792 per month (obtained from their website) times 29.5 divided by 40 (40 quarters). This will equate to $1,321 per month at retirement or $15,859 per annum. Did I calculate this correctly? A: Close. However, the formula you used needs one minor adjustment. Your FERS-covered years should be rounded up to the next higher whole number, which…
Q: I am a postal retiree and I have my wife on my hospital coverage. When I die, will she be able to keep the APWU health plan, and what will be her cost. A: If your widow is receiving a survivor annuity based on your employment, she can continue that coverage. For that coverage, she would pay self-only premiums instead of the self-and-family premiums you pay now.
Q: My wife began working for the post office in 1977 and retired in 2010 with 33 years of service under the CSRS Offset retirement system. During all these years Social Security was deducted from her check. She will turn 62 in October 2014, and as I understand the rules, her civil service pension will be offset a calculated amount based on the Social Security that she will be eligible to draw when she turns 62. I can understand this being the case had she not paid into Social Security. Since she paid into Social Security all those years, it…
Q: Our base is about to undergo a Reduction in Force. I retired from the Air force Reserve and I’m a retired civil service employee due to the fact I was in the Air Force Technician Program. When I turned 60, I was forced to retire. I am receiving an annuity and have been re-employed. Would my service computation date still help me keep my job, or would I end up at the bottom of the list since I am a re-employed, rehired annuitant? A: As a re-employed annuitant, you are an “at will” employee. This means you can be…
Q: I retired in 2010 from the Defense Department with 40 years, four months and 13 days of service under CSRS. I”am 62 and have 23 Social Security quarters, so I need 17. My wife of 23 years is 59 and getting Social Security Disability. Could I borrow the remaining quarters from her? A: No, you cannot. You’ll have to earn them yourself.
Q: I plan to retire this year. I am under CSRS. I understand the WEP for me but have some doubts about the Social Security benefits of my wife. She has been paying Social Security all her life and never worked for a government with another type of pension. Is her Social Security retirement affected because of me? If I choose a survivor benefit, how is that going to affect her Social Security? A: The fact that you will receive a benefit from a retirement system where you didn’t pay Social Security taxes will have no affect on her own…
Q: After receiving a buyout, would employment with a government contractor require repayment of the buyout? A: You would only have to repay the buyout if you later accepted employment with the federal government (including work under a personal services contract or other direct contract) within five years of the date of the separation on which the VSIP is based.
Q: My husband and I are retired federal employees. While we were employed, we did not have separate self-only health insurance plans. My husband was a part of my self-and-family plan. We continue to have a self-and-family plan. Because the combined annual cost of self-and-family coverage is about $900 more than the cost of two self-only policies, we would like to have separtate policies. Can we do this? If the answer is yes, is there an OPM or FEHB reference I can share with my husband. He is concerned about making changes and insists he was told at pre-retirement seminars…