Q. I am a FERS employee who is on disability from the U.S. Postal Service, plus I am getting Social Security Disability Insurance. What will happen when I reach 62 and start getting my pension from USPS? A. When you reach age 62, your FERS disability benefit will be recomputed as if you had worked to age 62. Therefore, your actual service will be added to the time you spent on disability. The total time will be multiplied by 1 percent (1.1 percent if you have at least 20 years of actual service and time spent on disability). That figure…
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Q. How many years of continuous FERS service do I need with the federal government to be eligible for a retirement benefit? A. It depends on your age. As a FERS employee, you can retire at your minimum retirement age with 30 years of service, 60 with 20 or 62 with 5. (MRAs range from 55 to 57, depending on your birth year.) You can also retire at your MRA with as few as 10 years of service; however, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year (5/12ths of 1 percent per month) that you were under…
Q. I started at the Transportation Security Administration in May 2018 with a temporary appointment. No retirement deductions were taken from my pay. I was made a permanent employee in October of that year. Can I buy back the temporary time and have it used in the computation of my FERS annuity? A. Unfortunately, no. Nondeduction service performed on or after Jan. 1, 1989, isn’t creditable for either retirement eligibility or computation purposes. Therefore, you can’t make a deposit to get credit for that time.
Q. I’m a FERS employee who is getting ready to retire. I plan to elect a full survivor benefit annuity for my wife. Will it be increased by COLAs or change with age? A. If you elect a full survivor benefit, your basic annuity will be permanently reduced by 10 percent. If you die, your widow will receive a survivor annuity that equals 50 percent of your unreduced annuity; in other words, the annuity you would have received before you made the survivor election. That survivor annuity will be increased by any cost-of-living adjustments that were made to retiree annuities following your…
Q. I am a FERS employee who is planning on retiring in December 2019. Since the last day in December is in the middle of a pay period, if I leave on 12/31/2019, would I need to use leave to “fill out” the rest of the pay period? A. No, you wouldn’t. Since only employees can use leave, you couldn’t “fill out” the rest of the pay period after you retired on Dec. 31.
Q. I’m a FERS disability annuitant. Assuming that I continue to be disabled, what happens when I reach age 62? A. When you reach age 62, your FERS disability benefit will be recomputed as if you had worked to age 62. Your actual service will be added to the time you spent on disability and the total time will be multiplied by 1.1 percent That figure will then be multiplied by your high-3 salary on the day you were found disabled. That dollar figure will be increased by any cost-of-living increases paid to FERS retirees since you retired on disability.
Q. I was born in 1967. I’m covered by FERS and want to retire at the age of 55 when I’ll have 34 years of federal service. Will I take a huge hit in my annuity? A. Because you were born in 1967, your minimum retirement age is 56 years and 6 months. Although you wouldn’t be eligible to retire, you could resign and apply for a deferred annuity when you reach your MRA. However, if you did that, you wouldn’t be eligible to receive the special retirement supplement nor would you be able to re-enroll in either the FEHB or…
Q. I was born in 1967. I’m covered by FERS and want to retire at the age of 55 when I’ll have 34 years of federal service. Will I take a huge hit in my annuity? A. Because you were born in 1967, your minimum retirement age is 56 years and 6 months. Although you wouldn’t be eligible to retire, you could resign and apply for a deferred annuity when you reach your MRA. However, if you did that, you wouldn’t be eligible to receive the special retirement supplement, nor would you be able to re-enroll in either the FEHB…
Q. I’m a 58-year-old FERS retiree who worked as a GS-1811. Can I be rehired as a GS-391? A. Yes, if you meet the qualification requirements. However, as a rule the salary of your new position would be reduced by the amount of your annuity. On top of that, your special retirement supplement would be reduced or stopped because of the annual Social Security earnings limitation. In 2019, that limit is $17,640.
Q. I’ve reached my minimum retirement age and have 29 years under FERS. I have more than 2,400 hours of sick leave. Will the sick leave time be added to my actual service and make me eligible to retire? A. No, it won’t. Sick leave is only added after you have reached the right combination of years and service to retire on an immediate annuity.