Monthly Archives: June, 2012

Q. My mother and I are both Postal Service FERS employees. My mother is planning to retire in two years at age 67 with 15+ years of service. She has had some injuries and illness over the past few years, including an on-the-job injury that her supervisor intentionally mishandled to keep her from receiving workers’ compensation, which have depleted her sick leave and any annual leave reserve. She has very little reserve to handle any more such occurrences without using leave without pay. She is under the impression that she cannot retire with FERS or benefits if she uses any…

Q. I served in the Army for four years from June 28, 1976, to June 27, 1980. I have been employed by the Postal Service since Dec. 15, 1980, and fall under CSRS. My time in the military, along with some part-time work while employed by the USPS is the only employment in which I paid into Social Security. This adds up to about 28 quarters toward my Social Security eligibility. Since I did not buy back my military time and will not qualify for Social Security benefits when I retire before I reach age 62, will my military time…

Q. I have been retired with CSRS for 15 years. I remarried very shortly after retirement. My first wife had died several years earlier. I added my second wife for full survivor benefit soon after retirement and well within the two years of marriage. Is it simple to remove my second wife’s survivor benefit to save money and receive more pension each month now? I understand it’s a 10 percent reduction to have a full survivor, so would we receive 10 percent more now? Would we receive a benefit of the equivalent of the permanent actuarial reduction that one pays…

Q. Is the special retirement supplement treated as ordinary income or in the same manner and under the same rules as Social Security benefits? A. Ordinary income, because it’s paid out of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund.

In my May 14 column, I wrote about the difference in the benefits available to those who retire on disability versus those who receive workers’ compensation. Employees may be approved for disability retirement if they are unable to provide useful and efficient service in their current position or one of comparable grade and pay. But only those whose disability is based on permanent, total or partial disabilities sustained in the performance of their duties can be approved for workers’ compensation. What spurred me to write about these differences is the proposed 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012, which recently passed the…

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