Q. I’ll have 30 years in when I reach my minimum retirement age on Nov. 30 under FERS. I was planning to retire on Jan. 11, 2014 so I could apply 100 percent of my sick leave toward service time. No Voluntary Early Retirement Authority/Voluntary Separation Incentive Pay offer was made this year. What would the pros and cons be for me if I were to make the offer to go from a GS 12-9 to a GS 9-5 beyond making less money? I’d consider 27 hours a week working three nine-hour days.
A. If you continued full time, your annuity would be based on your total years of service and your highest three consecutive years of average basic pay, no matter when they occurred in your career.
If you went part time, your years of service would remain the same, as would your high-3. However, your annuity would be reduced proportionately to account for that period of part-time service. If that period before retirement was short, it would have a negligible effect on the amount of your annuity. If it was longer, it would have a greater impact.
