Q. I am a Postal Service employee and under FERS. I am at my minimum retirement age of 56, have 33 years of service (25 with the Postal Service, November 1988-present, and eight years of military service that I bought back: Marine Corps, 1975-1979; Coast Guard, 1984-1988). I was going to retire voluntarily at the end of this month, but I have contacted the Office of Personnel Management and also contacted human resources shared services. One person tells me I’m eligible for the special retirement supplement, and another tells me no. I understand that the military buyback does not count in the calculation of the supplement, but I was under the understanding that the military time combined with the postal time would count toward the eligibility for the supplement.
A. If you retire at your MRA with at least 30 years of creditable service (actual and bought back), you will be entitled to receive the special retirement supplement, which will be based solely on your years of actual FERS service.
