Q. I was offered and accepted a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority payment from the Post Office last month under CSRS. If I return to work in the private sector, will it affect my CSRS pension or the VERA I received? A. Working in the private sector will affect neither your CSRS annuity nor the VERA payment you received.
Monthly Archives: November, 2012
Q. Is there a rule that says a federal employee must retire from federal employment? In other words, if a person chooses to, could they work until they die? This question applies to a person who is 57, has no retirement plan and has been a federal employee for two years and so will never build up any reasonable retirement. A. Only special category employees, such as a law enforcement officers or firefighters, are subject to mandatory retirement at a specific age. Other employees aren’t. If you are one of the latter, you can work until the paramedics carry you…
Q. I have worked for the USPS for a little more than 25 years and am under FERS. I have accumulated 2903 hours of LWOP over this period (having two babies and caring for elderly parents). I never used more than six months in any one year. Will I have to make this time up on the end (approximately 1½ years)? Will it affect my retirement computation date? A. Up to six months of LWOP in a calendar year is considered creditable service. As a result, your retirement computation date won’t be affected.
Q. Can I include county time with my federal time toward total years served in my retirement? If so, how? A. No.
Q. I am buying back three years of active-duty military service for retirement and am wondering what the government does with the money and interest it gets from the buyback of service time. A. It goes into the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund.
Q. I was an IPA (Interagency Personnel Act) for the Air Force from 2003-2006. I then left my position with the University of Central Florida in 2006 and accepted a full-time GS-13 position with the Air Force, where I continue. Can I get retirement credit for the three years as an IPA? A. Not that I’m aware of. However, ask one of the benefits specialists in your office. If they don’t know, they can bump it up the line and, if necessary, check with OPM.
Q. I recently retired from a federal ARS position having 35 years, three months and nine days of creditable service. I was informed for the first time to pay an accrued interest of $955 for FICA service ($529) for a period when I was first employed back in 1976, which I did. I have requested that OPM review this interest charge, but I have not gotten a response. This service period doesn’t appear to me to have been included in computing my CSRS computation service for retirement or my buyout payment — which I find questionable. Because I was never…
Q. I was recently informed that I have six years of noncreditable FDIC/RTC service because it was a series of temporary appointments during the years of the savings-and-loan crisis. That reduces my service years from 20 to 14 and will severely impact my retirement annuity. As 17 years have passed since sunset of the RTC, and there must be other current feds in a similar predicament to mine, is there any appeal process to request that all or a portion of this noncreditable service be converted to creditable? A. No.
Q. I am a retired CSRS employee and started receiving benefits at a reduced level at age 47 (with 31 years of credited service) due to the BRAC. I worked enough quarters between the City of Norfolk, Va., and NEXCOM (a nonappropriated fund business) to qualify for Social Security. I am still working full time at NEXCOM and plan to start receiving Social Security benefits when I reach 66. Can I continue to work and still draw Social Security, or is there a limit on the amount I can earn and still draw the Social Security? And will the CSRS…
Q. I served 15 years active duty in the Navy, then was honorably discharged with VocRehab due to injury. I am rated at 70 percent disability and receive a check from the VA each month. I was recently offered a job with the VA hospital. Can I apply my years of active-duty service to a federal retirement with the VA? What are my best options for retirement planning? A. Yes you can get credit for your active-duty military service, but only if you make a deposit to the civilian retirement system. That deposit would be 3 percent of your basic…