Q. I plan to retire Jan. 12 with 30 years of service under FERS. I have accrued 401 annual leave hours as of the pay period ending Nov. 17. Will I lose any of my annual leave hours over the 240 for lump-sum purposes? I understand the 2012 leave year ends Jan. 12. A. As long as you retire before the end of the leave year, you’ll be paid for all of your hours of unused annual leave.
Author militaryonline
Q. I am curious to know if I qualify for Social Security benefits as my late husband paid greatly into them. I am a FERS employee, age 52, with 29 years of service and am considering taking the early-out expected to be offered soon at our company. If I were to assume one of the terms of this early retirement/buyout is a bridge, would it be somewhat more possible to retire given that I would be entitled to survivor benefits? A. You would first be eligible for a Social Security survivor benefit at age 60. However, it would only be…
Changes may be coming in the way employees are compensated if they are injured on the job. The Senate approved a provision as part of a postal reform bill it passed April 26 that, if it becomes law, would lower the income of many on workers’ compensation when they become eligible for regular retirement. I’ll fill you in on the proposal in my next column. This time, I want to explain how the system works now. You’ll see that workers’ comp is a financially more beneficial option for most employees who were disabled while performing the duties of their jobs than…
Q. My husband is going to retire early next year. He will be 65. He has been paying for self plus family Blue Cross Blue Shield since he began working for the Defense Department (BSBC 105). I am a federal FERS retiree who will not be 65 until 2013. We heard somewhere that it is not a good idea to do single BCBS but continue with the family plan even though it comes out cheaper. We also have Tricare as a secondary as my husband is a retired military officer. Please advise as to the pros and cons of single…
Q. Our agency is offering VERA, closing at the end of the month. My husband has 20 years of service and will be 50 years old two weeks later. Is there way for the agency to allow him to use leave or leave without pay to reach eligibility? Or would they have to extend the closing date for all employees? He’s also subject to involuntary relocation due to transfer of function if he isn’t able to do the VERA? A. VERAs have a fixed beginning date and, while they can be terminated earlier than the announced closing date, they can’t be…
Q. My wife and I are both CSRS annuitants. I retired in October 1986 and am receiving both CSRS and Social Security benefits because I had significant years worked in the private sector. When I retired, I elected a reduced CSRS annuity to leave 55 percent of my annuity to my spouse in the event of my death. My wife is not eligible to receive Social Security because she retired after 1986. Will my wife be eligible to receive my Social Security benefits as a surviving spouse? A. First, let me correct a misunderstanding. If your wife accumulated at least 40…
Q. My wife has 20-plus years of federal service(CSRS, CSRS Offset and FERS). She took a leave of absence to care for an ailing parent, then a year later she resigned leaving 500 hours of sick leave. In 2002, she had an accident that left her unable to walk unassisted, and she has since been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and is on Social Security disability. Is it possible to file for a deferred retirement at her age of 57, or does she have to wait until she is 62? Also, will the Social Security disability affect her retirement? A. Because…
Q. I am regular full-time Civil Service CSRS employee with insurance coverage (Blue Cross/ Blue Shield) for my wife and myself. My wife is retired military with Tricare. My insurance costs me about $400 a month and I understand Tricare would cost me only about $500 a year. I want to retire next year. I’m 60 years old. Would you suggest dropping BCBS and going over to Tricare? A. I’m old enough and wise enough not to give advice. What I can tell you is that if you drop your FEHB coverage, you won’t be able to re-enroll if you…
Q: I am CSRS and I have been taking just under six months of LWOP every year for the past 10 years. Is the calculation of my high-3 years the actual pay I received or the pay that I would have received if I had not taken any LWOP. Example: Let’s say my basic pay with locality is $55,000 per year but I have only been receiving $45,000 per because of the LWOP taken. Is the high-3 based on the $55,000 or the actual pay of $45,000? A: It’s based on the pay you would have received, not the pay…
For the first time since 2009, many retirees and survivors will receive a cost-of-living adjustment to their annuities beginning in January. For those covered by the Civil Service Retirement System, the COLA will be 3.6 percent; for those covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System, 2.6 percent. The Office of Personnel Management uses the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), as published monthly by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, to determine COLAs. COLAs for both CSRS and FERS are based on the percentage increase in the CPI-W for the July-September quarter compared with…