Monthly Archives: May, 2012

Q. My agency was planning to conduct a reduction in force in November 2011. Prior to that, there was a mock RIF in which we pretty much determined where employees would bump/retreat to. Based on that information, I elected to apply for a Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment and was approved in September 2011, under optional retirement (30 years FERS with minimum retirement age). Retirement would be by March 31, 2012, for the VSIP. Two months later, in November, the RIF was canceled, and a second VSIP date established, where we could leave Aug. 31. Since the RIF was canceled, I…

Q. I have 30 years with the federal government. I am under CSRS. I plan to retire in about four years, at age 55. I do not have all the credits I need to receive Social Security at age 63. I believe I will have to work one year after retirement to get my 40 quarters in. With the Social security windfall elimination provision, is there a way to figure out what my Social Security benefit will be? A. Yes. Go to www.socialsecurity.gov/retire2/wep-chart.htm. There you’ll find an explanation of the windfall elimination provision and directions to the WEP calculator.

Q. I entered federal service Sept. 6, 1977, under CSRS. I transferred to FERS, effective Jan. 3, 1988. I resigned from federal service April 30, 2001. (I did not withdraw any of my retirement contributions.) I was born in 1952. The FERS website states, “If you completed at least 10 years but less than 30 years of creditable service before you left federal service, your annuity will be reduced if it begins before age 62. The only exception to this is if you had at least 20 years of service and your annuity begins when you reach age 60.” Does…

Q. How much money can I earn part time without negatively affecting my disability pension? A. The maximum you can earn is 80 percent of the current rate of pay for the position you held when you retired on disability. If you exceed that amount, your disability annuity would be stopped until such time as your earnings fell below that level.

Q. My mother is a retired Postal Service employee and is trying to find out if her retirement insurance will pay anything for hearing aids. A. If she is enrolled in the Federal Employee Health Benefits program, she can find that out by reading her plan brochure. If she still has questions, she can call the plan.

Q. I am a FERS employee and will be eligible to retire after Nov. 25. I have already received an estimate from human resources on pay. My sick leave balance will be about 400 hours at the time of my retirement. HR worked out a scenario with a retirement date of Dec. 31 and another with Jan. 31, 2013. Both showed my sick leave being worth only one month. I called and asked about the change on Jan. 1, 2013, of each 174 hours of sick leave being equal to one month of service, and that I should be able…

Q. I am a guardsman who has been on continuous active-duty orders since June 2004. I was employed as a civil service technician from 1981 to 2004 (with FERS). When I went on orders in 2004, I was continued in leave-without-pay status in my civil service technician position by my Guard unit until my five-year Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act rule ran out in 2009, when I was forced to give up my technician position or face being placed in AWOL status. Now that I am nearing the end of my active-duty orders in October (I do not…

Q. I retired under CSRS after 31 years. My gross CSRS annuity is about $3,580 a month. I’ve worked for 15 years in the private sector. I now get about $800 a month from Social Security, and my wife gets about $700/month before deducting for Medicare. Would either of us qualify for spousal benefits from Social Security? A. Because you are receiving an annuity from CSRS, a retirement system where you didn’t pay Social Security taxes, any Social Security spousal benefit to which you’d be entitled would be affected by the government pension offset. The GPO would reduce that benefit…

Q. I retired (federal law enforcement) on Feb. 29 at the age of 55. My total law enforcement time was 20 years with an additional seven years of federal service. I am receiving a partial annuity until the Office of Personnel Management has the time to finish it, which may be six or seven months. I received a lump-sum payment upon my retirement for my annual leave. I would like to take a job as a reinstatement employee with federal service. Do I lose my entire annuity if I do this? I understand that retirement deductions will be held, but…

Q. When the calculations are made for annuity payments, are actual earnings or base pay used in calculations? My base pay is higher than the actual pay in each of the high-3. A. I believe you misunderstand the meaning of the words “base pay.” Base pay is the amount of pay from which retirement contributions are taken, not the amount you actually receive, nor the figure that is shown on a pay chart that exceeds the amount payable because of a pay cap.

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