Q: I have 30 years of federal service and am under the Civil Service Retirement System. Next week, I will be 52 years old. I was thinking about retiring before age 55, and I know about the 2 percent reduction in monthly retirement benefits for every year under age 55. When I contacted the Office of Personnel Management about an early retirement, the answer was that I had to wait until age 55 to retire unless my agency offered an early out or buyout. Maybe I’m not using the correct terminology. Is there any way for me to “retire” before…
Author Reg Jones
Reg Jones
Reg Jones was head of retirement and insurance policy at the Office of Personnel Management. Email your retirement-related questions to fedexperts@federaltimes.com.
Q: Can an offer be made and accepted on a federal position prior to an effective retirement date? A: There’s no prohibition against accepting another federal position prior to retiring from your current position, as long as the reporting date is after you retire. However, you need to consider the potential consequences of becoming a re-employed annuitant. For example, if you retired on an immediate unreduced annuity, the salary of your new position would be reduced by the amount of that annuity, unless you were being hired into one of those rare positions where you are allowed to keep both.…
Q: I may be transitioning to nonappropriated-funds employment. I would be keeping my Federal Employees Retirement System status. There is no provision for me to stay enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program while I am a NAF employee. When I retire (under FERS), can I re-enroll in FEHB and have the premiums deducted from my pension? This is a make-or-break issue for me. A: No, you won’t be able to re-enroll.
Q: I am covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System. I have six years of part-time service in and want to carry Federal Employee Health Benefits coverage for the last six years of federal service, which will give me a total of 12 years of federal employment. If I resign from federal employment after the 12 years, will I be able to pick up my FEHB coverage as well as collect my annuity at age 62? A: No, you won’t. No one who applies for a deferred annuity is eligible to re-enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program.
Q: I would like to retire at the end of 2011. When this time arrives, my annual pay over the previous four years should be as follows: 2008, $90,000; 2009, $93,000; 2010, $80,000; 2011, $106,000. I will have had a stateside job with locality pay in all of those years except 2010, which would have been an overseas federal job without locality pay (a job in South Korea). I am concerned about the $80,000 that I’ll be earning in 2010, which is substantially less than the other years shown. Will the retirement system use the $80,000 that I will earn…
Q: I understand that active-duty time counts, but do weekend drills and the two-weeks-a-year tour also count toward retirement? A: No, they don’t. You are already receiving credit for your two-week periods of active-duty training, which are treated for accounting purposes as if you were still on the job. Weekend drills are generally on your own time. If one were to fall on what would otherwise be a work day, it would be treated in the same way. Simply stated, you can’t get credit twice for the same period of time.
Q: I began working in the federal government in August 2008. I am currently buying back 13 years of military service: nine years in the Marine Corps and four years at the Naval Academy. I understand once I complete the military service buy-back I will have 13 years added to my creditable service date for retirement purposes. My leave service computation date currently reflects the nine years of Marine Corps service plus my 1.5 years as civilian employee. As a result, I am earning six hours of leave per pay period. I questioned my human resources department as to why…
Q: I have a friend who works with the Veterans Affairs Department. Because of his illness (expected to last more than 6 months) he has been provided information regarding his eligibility for FEMA and unpaid sick leave without pay for three months by our Human Resources Department. Is he entitled to any type of disability, or workers’ compensation entitlements from his federal service? Or will he only be able to apply for SSI/SSDI? His illness was not incurred at work. Because of the seriousness of his illness, how long will his position be held for him? Is the VA required…
My Feb. 22 column explaining the difference between deferred and postponed annuities generated a lot of questions from former employees, some of whom are just realizing they might be eligible for a deferred annuity. They should also pay attention to the increased benefits that would become available if a recently introduced bill becomes law. A deferred annuity is one that is payable to a former employee who left service before being eligible for an immediate annuity and who didn’t take a refund of his retirement contributions. If you are a former Civil Service Retirement System employee who had at least…
Q: I am 42 years old. I have 19 years of government service, with six of those being military. What effect would it have on me if I were to quit my job at 19 years, versus 20 years. I keep hearing 20 is a magic number. I can hold out until I hit 20 if it will significantly impact my retirement once I am eligible. A: As a Federal Employees Retirement System employee, if you were to leave government before having 20 years of creditable service, you wouldn’t be able to apply for a deferred annuity until you reached…