Q. I’m a postmaster who has been offered the buyout if I retire July 31. At that time, I will have 26 years and 10 months of Postal Service time. I also have four years of military time that I have bought back, plus seven months of sick leave time. My total creditable service time is 31 years and six months. Under VERA, I would be eligible for the special supplement. but because I’m already eligible to retire, I must retire that way. Would I still receive the special supplement? I won’t turn 60 until Oct. 17. A. Because you…
Monthly Archives: June, 2012
Q. My wife, who left federal employment in 1999 after 13 years of service, will turn 62 on July 29. We thought her FERS deferred annuity should commence on or after her 62nd birthday as she wants to avoid any age reduction of the annuity amount. Instructions for completing Schedule C of her deferred annuity application, Form RI 92-19, state, “You can avoid the age reduction entirely if you choose the first day of the month that you reach age 62 as your annuity commencing date.” Seems like following the instructions and selecting July 1 (28 days before reaching age…
Q. I am 54 years old with 31 years of service. My wife is terminally ill and has only about two years left at best, and I want to retire. I know that I have qualified for my retirement annuity, but do I also qualify for the Social Security supplement bridge pay? Also, I am 18 months from my 56th birthday. Am I subject to the early retirement penalty? If so, how much? A. Unfortunately, you aren’t qualified for a retirement annuity. To qualify, you’d need to have reached your minimum retirement age. The only way you’d be able to…
Q. I am in CSRS. I will be 55 on Sept. 3. I will have 36 years and seven months at that time. Would it be beneficial for me to stay until February of next year to have a total of 37 years of service? I planned on retiring in December. A. I can give you the facts. If you retire with 36 years and seven months of service, your annuity would equal 69.4167 percent of your high-3. If you retire with 37 years of service, it would be 70.25 percent of your high-3. If you have any unused sick…
Q. I have 23 years and 11 months in the Postal Service. I am going to be 60 on June 26. I have not been able to work since June 21, 2011, and have been on leave without pay. I applied for Social Security disability and was turned down. My assessment was inconclusive, leaving out the reason for my disability. So I have a lawyer who states I have and excellent case, which he says may not be resolved until the beginning of 2013. About a month ago, I put in for early retirement due to financial hardship. Later, I…
Q. I work for the Department of Energy and plan on retiring at the end of 2012. I will have 427 hours of annual leave and 187 of use-or-lose leave. Will I be paid for the total of 614 hours at retirement? A. Since the 2012 leave year ends Jan. 12, 2013, the answer is yes.
Q. I am on active duty (Army). I will be retiring with 20 years of active service and receive my monthly retirement pay. If I take a government job, how does the buyback thing work? If I choose the buyback option, will my military retirement check stop? Could I buy back the 20 years of military service (without giving up my military retirement pay), work the government for 10 years, then retire and receive both my military and government retirement? A. You could make a deposit to get credit for your active-duty service; however, when you retired, you would have…
Q. I am a single, retired CSRS annuitant, age 69, whose wife passed away before I retired in January 2004. It is my understanding that if I marry after retirement, I have two years from the date of marriage to sign my new wife up for survivor benefits. Then, nine months after I sign my wife up for the benefits, my annuity will be reduced to pay for the benefits. If I were to die before the nine months has passed, what happens to my survivor benefit request? Also, if I were to die after nine months but before the…
Q. I took a reduced Social Security annuity since I decided to draw two years ago at the age of 62. My husband was a government meteorologist for 33 years — three of them being Air Force. We were given the option to pay fully the Social Security for his years in the Air Force. No pension. It counted to his government service and that pension. So we did. $3,600 cash. He retired at 55. So he took a true reduced government annuity, since he did not retire at 65 with the 33 years of service. In the government, you…
Q. I am a FERS employee. My organization offered a VSIP/VERA. I applied for the buyout but was denied because this offer was good for the first 100 technicians only. The memo did not state that it was for the first 100 technicians. Can this be true? A. Sure, it can be true. An agency can limit its offer to the level needed to reach its organizational objectives. That limit can be set ahead of time or imposed when the staffing reduction goals have been met.