Q. I have about 23 years of 6c covered law enforcement officer service and turn 50 this year. I’m trying to decide if I want to jump to a private-sector job, and part of my decision will be based on what I am expecting as my FERS pension plus the special retirement supplement we are supposed to get given our mandatory retirement age. I have heard that a recent change in federal law, possibly as part of the Affordable Care Act, eliminated (or will eliminate) this supplement, even though when I started 23 years ago, that was not the law.
I have a few questions:
1. Are you aware of any recent legal change that would deny federal LEOs from collecting this supplement?
2. Is the retirement supplement (assuming it is still around) means tested against the roughly $14,000 annual earnings cap, even as an LEO? If it is, any new job would exceed the cap, and I would not even bother to count the supplement in my pension calculation.
3. Does the supplement (if still available) go away when I become eligible for normal Social Security benefits?
A. 1. No. 2. Yes. 3. Yes.
