Q. I am 51 and was born in 1961. I work in FERS. My MRA, I believe, is 56. I have 28 years in federal service. Will I get an annuity if I retire now before my MRA? If I do get an annuity, how big a reduction will it be from the pension I would get if I retired at 56?
Also, I have seven months of sick leave. Do I lose it all when I retire, or does it get applied as service credit?
A. Because you haven’t reached your MRA, you can’t retire. While you could resign, you would only be eligible for a deferred annuity at age 62.
Deferred annuitants get no credit for unused sick leave. Those who retire on an immediate annuity do. If you waited until you had reached your MRA, you would be retiring under the MRA+10 provision, and your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year you were under age 62. You could reduce or eliminate that penalty by postponing the receipt of your annuity.
