Browsing: High-3

Q. I’m a federal employee who was in leave-without-pay status during the three years I was on active duty. I’ll be retiring soon. If I make a deposit for that time, can I use my higher military base pay to calculate my high-3 when I retire? A. No. By law your high-3 is based solely on your highest three consecutive years of civilian basic pay.

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. In 2005, I resigned from my position as a civil servant and didn’t ask for a refund of my retirement contributions. At the time I was 51 and had 24 years of service. Do I have any options in order to receive a retirement benefit based on my 24 years of service? A. Because you have at least 20 years of service but fewer than 30, you can apply for a deferred annuity at age 60. That annuity will be based on the average of your highest three consecutive years of basic pay and your total years and full…

Q. I keep hearing that for a Department of Defense civilian with the Army deploying to Afghanistan, danger pay is included in the high-3. I know differential and overtime are not covered. Can you shed some light on this?

Q. What impact does USERRA have on the high-3 calculation? For instance, please consider a hypothetical situation in which a civilian employee/military reservist earned annual income from his civilian federal agency of $96,000 one year, then $98,000 the next and then is making $100,000 when called to active duty at the end of the next year. He is activated for two years, during which time the GS scale gets annual 3 percent increases across the board. He comes back and works a final year, pays his military deposit, then retires after another 3 percent increase gives him an entire year…

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