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…
Browsing: Creditable service: FERS
Q: I have worked for the Army as a civilian for a total of 25 years and recently sent for an early retirement estimate. I was covered under the Civil Service Retirement System from 1983 to 1987, then switched over to the Federal Employees Retirement System. I quit in 1994 and took a lump sum retirement refund (thinking I would not work for the government again) but ended up returning to work for the Army in 1997. In 2002, I spoke with a benefits person within the Army, who advised me not to make the retirement redeposit. She said I…
Q: I recently retired from the Bureau of Land Management as a Federal Employees Retirement System employee and have the opportunity to be hired on a temporary basis by the federal government as an administratively determined (AD) casual hire. My question is, as an AD hire, will my FERS annuity be offset or reduced by what I earn on incident assignments, or will I be able to collect my full FERS annuity, as well as the full AD salary? A: If you are being hired as an employee of the federal government, the answer is yes. The salary you receive…
Q: I have 15 years and 11 months military time, which I have bought back. I also have 3.5 years with the VA. Our human resources office says that I must have at least five years of civilian service in order to retire. The only reference to any kind of five-year rule I can find on the Office of Personnel Managment Web site only applies to those transferring from the Civil Service Retirement System to the Federal Employees Retirement System. I know there is a 5-percent penalty per year for every year under 62. I have several medical issues and…
Q: I am a Federal Employees Retirement System employee who has bought back her active-duty military time. I’m resigning with 31 years effective July 5, 2010, but I haven’t reached my minimum retirement age. From my understanding, I can apply for retirement three months prior to reaching my MRA (Oct 14, 2011), without any problems. I was also told that I will not have any health and medical benefits — which I don’t have because I am a dependent wife of a retiree. I just want to make sure that I will have no problems when I apply for my…
Q: I am a Federal Employees Retirement System employee. I’m planning to retire in 2011 with 12 years of service at the age of 60 years, 4 months. I would like to know if I am eligible for a special supplement from Social Security. Also, am I subject to a penalty of five percent? A: No, you won’t be eligible for the special retirement supplement. No one who retires under the Minimum Retirement Age+10 provision is eligible for the SRS. Yes, your annuity will be reduced by five percent for every year (5/12 percent per month) that you are under…
Q: I had 6.8 years of my military service used in determining my service computation date (SCD) of March 4, 1987. As a reserve officer on active duty, I retired after 32 years of service (National Guard, Army Reserve, Active Guard Reserve combined). I retired in March 1993 and began work as a Federal Employees Retirement System employee in November of the same year. I am wanting to retire July 31 (I was 66 — full retirement age — as of Jan. 1). I have received conflicting information on what my final FERS retirement annuity is made up of, i.e.…
Q. I retired from the Marine Corps (active duty military) in 2004 after 22 years of honorable and faithful service. I have been with the civilian federal government side for six years now as a FERS employee. I am 49 years old with a total of 28 years of government service. When and at what age would I be eligible for retirement? A. Unless you make a deposit for those 22 years of active-duty service and waive your military retired pay, you won’t get any credit for that time. As it stands, you have only six years of creditable service…
Q. Are Post Office appointments excepted service? Also, is USPS service creditable for purposes of Service Computation Date and retirement? A. While the U.S. Postal Service is a separate entity, its employees generally receive the same benefits as other federal employees. For example, they are covered by CSRS, CSRS Offset or FERS and can participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits and Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance programs and the Thrift Savings Plan. As a rule, your service computation date wouldn’t change if you took a job with the Postal Service, and the age and service requirements to retire would…
Q. Question: As a military retiree, if I buy back my military time, will my military retirement pay stop or will it then continue until I completely retire from federal service? Details: I served on active duty from 1982-2002, and retired with an honorable discharge. I began receiving my military retirement pay. I then entered federal service as a GS-14, and I am under FERS. I do not have a disability. I have been told that if I buy back my military time, my retirement pay will immediately stop. My research shows that the military retiree pay would continue until…