Q. I am a 55-year-old FERS employee and have 30 years in the Postal Service. Am I eligible for early retirement? A. Yes, if one is offered to you. Because you have at least 25 years of service, you could retire at any age. Note: If you aren’t offered an opportunity to retire early, because you were born between in 1953 through 1964, you could retire on an immediate, unreduced annuity at age 56.
Monthly Archives: April, 2012
Q. I am 60 and a CSRS retiree. This past year, I married and did not elect a survivor annuity for my wife, but I added her to my federal Blue Cross health care plan. My wife is 64 and receives a monthly Social Security check. My understanding is that if I pass before her, she will no longer be eligible for my federal health insurance and her Medicare premiums would be higher, as she would be penalized for every year she could have been enrolled and wasn’t. She turns 65 shortly, so we are assuming it would be best for…
Q. My human resources staff calculated my estimated Social Security FERS supplement, and it is considerably lower than my Social Security calculation (calculated to initiate at age 62). I am retiring at 56 with 34 years. The HR staff has stated that they do not have the formula but only enter the numbers in a program estimator. The FERS handbook says the FERS Social Security supplement approximates the Social Security annuity. The FERS Social Security supplement doesn’t seem like a very close approximation. The FERS Social Security supplement calculates out at approximately $11,000, and the Social Security annuity is approximately $17,000. If I…
Q. I am currently a federal police officer under the GS scale, who previously served under the AD system. Under the AD scale, I was making more than the current GS scale and a recent new hire from the Department of Homeland Security received a step 00. What is this step, and how is it applied? A. Step 00 is the symbol used to designate a retained rate, one that is above the 10th step in the regular pay scale.
Q. Is there an offset to a FERS Voluntary 6c Retirement individual who subsequently receives a Schedule Award for an on-the-job injury? If so can you kindly explain how the offset would work in this situation? I do understand that there would be offsets to a person who retired with a FERS disability pension. A. No, there isn’t.
Q. I’m a PSE 13/13 for the Forest Service, and I’m wondering if anybody knows how they calculate your high-3 years of salary when you don’t work all 26 pay periods. I talked with a few folks at Albuquerque Service Center, and they told me my retirement would be based on what my yearly salary would be if I worked year-round (even though they understand that I only work part of the year). I assumed it would have to be prorated somehow. Say for example on paper my yearly salary for 26 pay periods is $40,000 but I only work 13 pay periods netting $20,000. I…
Q. I am still working but looking to retire. I have 35 years of CSRS service with the Department of Transportation. I started in 1977. Additionally I have two years, four months of active duty in the Air Force from 1966 to 1968. I also have 29 years with the New Hampshire Air National Guard from 1981 to 2006. When I retired from the Air Guard, they counted the two years and four months of Air Force time toward my Air Guard retirement. I was told by our DOT personnel department because of that, I cannot use my Air Force time…
Q. I retired from the Postal Service on Jan. 1 at age 59 with 30 years under FERS. I got a job right away mainly with intentions of making enough only to survive until the retirement process was complete (six to eight months). I will probably exceed the maximum allowable for Social Security supplement by May. Am I correct in understanding that this will follow me into next year even if I change my job situation? A. Your special retirement supplement will be adjusted when the Internal Revenue Service’s records are matched with the Office of Personnel Management’s. This means…
Q. I’m employed under FERS and plan to retire soon unmarried. After I am retired, I will still be covered with the FEHB single plan. If I should decide to get married later, is it possible to add my spouse to my FEHB plan and change to a family plan to bring her under my coverage? Are there any prerequisites or approval steps for her in order to add her to give her coverage, as well? A. Yes, you could change from self-only coverage to self and family under code 2B in the Office of Personnel Management’s Table of Permissible Changes…
Q. My aunt has been retired since 1995 and has received her monthly pension since then. She has never married, and she does not know if she listed any beneficiaries to her pension after she passes on. How would we know? Does the pension extend to her siblings or nieces or nephews? She is 89 years old, and the siblings are 94 and 87. What will happen to her pension when she is gone? A. Her annuity ends with her death. When she dies and her death is reported to the Office of Personnel Management, they will let you know if…