Q. I am FERS — age 56 with 17 years of service. If my duty location relocates to another state, and I do not wish to relocate, would I receive a retirement package? If so, would it be similar to a VSIP entitlement where you would get $25,000 plus the weekly severance pay for 52 weeks, which shows under my own general pay information in the TWMS site?
Also, at that point after the year of severance would I fall into a retirement at that time? Would I still accrue annual and sick leave during the severance payment time?
A. Although you are old enough, you wouldn’t be eligible to an age penalty-free retirement because you don’t have at least 20 years of service. You are already eligible to retire under the MRA+10 provision; however, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year you are under age 62.
If you are offered a VSIP, you are free to accept it, whether you retire or not. You wouldn’t be entitled to severance pay because, as noted above, you are already eligible to retire. Even if you had been eligible for severance pay, you wouldn’t accrue any sick or annual leave. Only employees are able to do that.
