Q. I am a federal employee with 25 years of service at age 50. if I take early retirement, will I be penalized? I am disabled with no term of disability. If I am disabled for some reason, who will determine how much I can draw in payments. I am under FERS.
A. If your agency offers you an opportunity to retire early, your annuity wouldn’t be subject to the age penalty applied to the annuities of those who retire under the MRA+10 provision. If you were to be approved for disability retirement, your annuity would be calculated using the standard formula provided by law. For the first 12 months, you’d receive 60 percent of your high-3 minus 100 percent of any Social Security disability benefit you were entitled to. (You have to apply for a Social Security benefit, otherwise OPM won’t process your application.) After the first 12 months, you’d receive 40 percent of your high-3 minus 60 percent of any Social Security benefit.
