Q. I am looking to retire from an 1811 federal law enforcement job at age 50 under FERS. Can I apply for another federal job upon retirement? If so, what are the restrictions regarding retirement, Thrift Savings Plan, vacation and sick leave?
A. In most cases, if you accept another federal job, your annuity will be offset by the amount of your annuity. In rare cases, you can receive both with no reduction in either. However, in the latter case, you’ll get no retirement credit for that time when you leave that job.
Since lump-sum annual leave payments are projected forward as if you were still on the payroll, if you return to work before that string of days has run out, you’ll have to refund any money represented by those remaining days. However, those days will be recredited to your leave account. On re-employment, your annual leave accrual rate will be based on your total years of prior service. Because your sick leave was included in your annuity computation, you’ll start without any sick leave balance.
