Q. According to my newest annuity printout, I have 46 years, seven months and 14 days total time (actual service and sick leave) in the U.S. Postal Service. Are the additional monies that I paid into my retirement contributions after 41 years, 11 months reflected on the printout in the gross monthly annuity column, or am I to assume that these monies are not reflected in this figure as yet? A. The column that reflects the amount you have had deducted from your pay will continue to increase pay period by pay period as long as you are working. It’s only when…
Monthly Archives: March, 2012
Q. My common-law husband will be retiring in the next year. I am now covered under his fed blue medical insurance, and have been for 11 years. He was told that I would no longer qualify after he retires. Is this true? A. If you are living in a state where common-law marriage is recognized, you can continue to be covered by his health benefits plan when he retires. If you aren’t, then you shouldn’t have been covered by his plan in the first place.
Q. I am a 54-year-old letter carrier with 23 years of service and eight years 10 months of military service. If the Postal Service offers an early-out incentive upping eligible employees two to three years, will I then be eligible for the special retirement supplement or will I still have to wait until my minimum retirement age? A. You’ll have to wait until you reach your MRA.
Q. I recently discovered that I am eligible to receive eight hours annual leave (currently receiving six hours) per pay period due to an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal I received during active-duty service. I have completed nine years of federal service and would like to know if and how the additional two hours of annual leave over a nine-year period will be credited back to me. A. If your agency determines that you are entitled to additional hours of annual leave due to an administrative error, it must adjust your leave balance to reflect the additional hours. If that puts…
Q. What are the best dates to retire for CSRS and FERS in 2012? A. There are no such things as the best dates to retire. There are too many factors involved. However, if, as I suspect, you just want to maximize the amount of money you can get in a lump-sum annual leave payment, then you should retire on Dec. 29, 2012. You’d be on the annuity roll Jan. 1. That’s essential if you are FERS employee; otherwise your annuity wouldn’t begin until the following month. If you are a CSRS employee, you could delay your departure up to the…
Q. I have about 25 years of FERS service, am in a 6c covered law enforcement job and am looking to move into another federal agency in a non-law-enforcement capacity but at slightly higher pay. Because the recently enacted Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act stipulates that only law enforcement officers who “retired” from a job with law enforcement arrest and weapons carriage authority at the time of retirement qualify, I am considering the possibility of retiring on a Saturday (at the end of a pay period) and then “rehiring” in my FERS non- law-enforcement job the next day (Sunday), since…
Q. Is my high-3 based on the capped amount or is it the base pay plus the full locality pay percentage? A. Your high-3 will be based on the pay you actually received — the amount from which retirement deductions were taken — not the amount you would have received had it not been for the cap.
Q. I retired from FERS in 2007 with 19 years of service as a 6c law enforcement officer and seven years at other agencies and military time I had bought back. I had about 26 years’ total service. If the five years I have been retired is counted, I will have about 31 years when I am 56. Does the time in disability retirement accrue as a 6c LEO time since I retired as a 6c LEO or is it counted as other? When I am 56 and with the time counted on disability retirement counted toward my total I will have…
Q. I am a former federal employee of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. I had 10 years of service when I sustained a work-related injury on federal status. This injury caused me to lose my military membership and then I was involuntarily separated from my federal job as well. I was in the CSR retirement program when I was terminated and elected Office of Workers’ Compensation Program benefits although I was accepted for CSRS disability retirement. I accepted OWCP because I would receive military loss pay as well. I was then put in a loss of wage earning capacity program on…
Q. I am a federal law enforcement officer with the Department of Homeland Security. I have more than 23.5 years of federal service, 17 years as a covered 6c LEO and 6.5 years in a noncovered LEO position with the old legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service that now has “enhanced retirement’ coverage since I transferred to DHS security in my current capacity. I have special circumstances dealing with my very elderly parents who require full-time care and management and I am the only sibling capable of providing that care. Are there any hardship provisions allowing for me to retire early,…