Q. I’m a dual-status federal/air technician in the Air National Guard. I’m 52 with 27 years of federal service and a minimum retirement age of 56. I failed my physical fitness test requirement due to a knee injury. I’m fully capable of doing my federal job during the week, just not able to pass the military physical fitness requirements. I was told that due to my age and years in federal service (human resources called in the 75 rule), I will not be able to file for disability claim. What are my options?
Browsing: High-3
Q. I retired with federal disability in 2002. I had 18 years of FERS service. I was denied for Social Security disability. When my benefit is recomputed at age 62, will the new amount be greater or lesser?
Q. I have my minimum retirement age and 30 years of service. If I retire now (buyout), will my retirement check be recalculated when I turn 62 (1.1 percent vs. 1.0 (high-3 years) x years of service = retirement check)?
Q. I am starting to look seriously at retirement and have noticed the articles on the long wait for pensions to be processed and the fact that accuracy dropped to 90.6 percent in the first quarter of 2013. Once the Office of Personnel Management has processed my pension, how do I verify it was done correctly? If it takes them a year, it must be a very complicated system. Also, since interim payments may be only half what is owed, how is that back amount paid?
Q. I am a FERS employee with eight years of federal service. I plan to end my employment next June with nine years of service at the age of 61½ years. I hope to apply for a deferred retirement when I turn 62 in January 2015 and want to make sure I am eligible. I also assume that the computation of my annuity is done using the high-3 pay figure x roughly 9 percent?
Q. I will turn age 62 on Aug. 29. I have 4½ years on my FERS disability with 24½ years of service. Will FERS automatically recompute this, or do I have to notify them of my pending birthday? Also, since my birthday is on the 29th day of the month, I read that FERS would retire me out not on my birthday but on the day before I turn age 62, which would be Aug. 28? I know how to figure all of this according to my high-3 year earnings. However, the part that I cannot compute on my own…
Q. I’ll have 30 years in when I reach my minimum retirement age on Nov. 30 under FERS. I was planning to retire on Jan. 11, 2014 so I could apply 100 percent of my sick leave toward service time. No Voluntary Early Retirement Authority/Voluntary Separation Incentive Pay offer was made this year. What would the pros and cons be for me if I were to make the offer to go from a GS 12-9 to a GS 9-5 beyond making less money? I’d consider 27 hours a week working three nine-hour days.
Q. I am a FERS employee, 60 years old with 19 years and six months years of service. I have 2,000 hours of sick leave, which I know until Jan. 1 I will only receive half-credit. I have an opportunity for a position outside of federal government that I must take now or I lose it. I also know if I take my annuity now, I will be penalized 5.5 percent for every year I am under age 62. If I postpone my annuity to age 62, do my years of service become 20 years because six months of service…
Q. I am a federal law enforcement employee in the last few years of my federal service before retirement. I am mobilized under Title 10 in the reserves. Is my high-3 calculated upon the salary I would have received had I stayed employed continually as a federal employee or at the military salary that I buy the federal retirement back at? Worded another way, do they strictly calculate the pension on federal salary? I am mobilized more than six months in a calendar year.
Q. I receive military retirement pay for 21 years of service in the Air Force. I started working a job as a federal civilian employee (GS-9, Step 1) two months ago. I have not bought back my military time yet. I am 41. If I continue to work as a federal civilian for another 20 years and buy back my military service, it would give me 40 years. Does my combined retirement/annuity add up to more than if I wouldn’t buy back my military time, keeping my separate military retirement check and my separate FERS annuity check?