Q. As of January, I had 36 years of creditable federal service for retirement. This is based on a federal retirement benefits estimate I received from a company contracted by my agency to provide this service. I was on leave without pay while in a master’s degree program from June 23, 1984, to June 7, 1986. The company providing the benefits estimate counted all of this time as creditable for retirement. Is this correct, or would I only be allowed credit for a maximum of six months during each of the three calendar years covered by the leave without pay?
Secondly, I am in the CSRS Offset retirement program. Can I pay into my retirement program for the LWOP period, similar to what I was allowed to do for my military time? If so, where do I start? I am not in CSRS Offset because of the LWOP period but for a period between Aug. 23, 1988, and June 30, 1994, during which I taught two years at a University and completed a Ph.D. in my current field.
A. Periods of LWOP that are less than six months in a calendar year are considered to be creditable service and no deposit is required to get credit for it. LWOP that exceeds six months in a calendar year isn’t creditable service for any purpose, and you can’t make a deposit to get credit for it.
