Q. Can you use your accrued sick leave to attach to your total time in service to bring you to 20 years of service so you get the .011 multiplier for your annuity?
Browsing: Creditable service: CSRS
Q. A federal employee under CSRS becomes eligible to retire with 30 years of employment in December. Also, that same individual earns a step increase in late December. If that individual decides to retire in January 2014, will the 1 percent pay raise for federal workers be calculated in his/her retirement salary along with the higher salary? If yes, please explain.
Q. I am a CSRS employee with 40 years of service and am planning to retire in January. If I elect the $1-per-year annuity for my spouse, will he be covered under my health plan into retirement (he has been covered for the past seven years). If I pass away before him, will he be entitled to my annuity?
Q. If I go in a nursing home, does my wife retain rights to my CSRS annuity, or are they relinquished to the nursing home?
Q. I am a CSRS retiree, age 57. When I attain age 65, am I required to enroll in Medicare? If I enroll, Medicare becomes primary and my federal health plan secondary. Why would I choose that? I live in an area with few CSRS retirees; hence, no herd to follow in this decision. Medicare looks like a less beneficial system. Where can I find info comparing CSRS federal health benefits without election to choose Medicare versus having Medicare as primary and my federal health plan (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) as secondary.
Q. I am a CSRS employee, age 57, and don’t have enough credits to qualify for Social Security and never will. I have 4½ years in Air Force and 34 years of federal service. I have not bought my military time back. If I retire this year, how many years would my annuity be based on, 34 or 38½ years?
Every fall, readers ask me what the cost-of-living adjustment will be for CSRS and FERS retirees and Social Security beneficiaries. And they want to know where the numbers come from, who is eligible for a COLA, when are they effective, if they are prorated, and why they are sometimes different for CSRS and FERS retirees. Because of the government shutdown, it took a little longer than usual to find out that the what the 2014 COLA will be. It’s 1.5 percent. Not great, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Where do the numbers come…
Q. I retired under CSRS Offset (disability) from the federal government at age 52 in 2005 with 26 years of service. I was told by human resources that, at age 62, it is mandatory that I apply for Social Security retirement, and if I did not do so, I would be subject to an overpayment that must be repaid. HR also told me that I would have no choice in the matter — that after applying for Social Security at age 62, my federal Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance would become secondary and Medicare would become primary health carrier. Is…
Q. My husband is 63 and wants to retire Jan. 3, 2014. He has only 29 credits for Social Security, so he is not eligible for benefits. He started his CSRS career before October 1982. He stated paying into CSRS in February 1977. He was in Air Force for four years from 1972 to 1976. Does he have to pay back his military deposit? From what I have been reading, he doesn’t need to pay his military deposit since he is 63 and not eligible for Social Security benefits.
Q. I may be a little confused, under CSRS, as to when I should retire: Nov. 30, 2013 or Jan. 12, 2014. I heard Social Security and retirees will get a 1.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment Jan. 1. My agency may only get a 1 percent COLA in January. But, for my annuity, would the calculation for the high-3 years with that 1 percent make little difference? I chose Nov. 30 because it is the last day of the pay period and within that one-to-two-day window at beginning or ending of the month as recommended for CSRS retirement processing. I wanted…