Q. Can you tell me how Executive Level IV pay, which limits the maximum pay of GS scale employees, is calculated? What is the formula? In searching, I can find the pay rate but not the rules. In other words, will GS-15 Step 9s and Step 10s who have hit that ceiling ever see that ceiling rise?
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Q. I am a CSRS employee who will be 55 years old in September 2015 and will have 38 years of federal service. Some are telling me to stay until I have 41 years because of the added benefit. What’s the big difference? I’d like to go as soon as I’m eligible.
Q. I am a full-time Postal Service employee covered under CSRS. I have more than 30 years of service (active Postal Service + military buyback). I am still too young to retire, and will probably work another seven to 10 years. Recently, I changed to a nontraditional full-time position (NTFT) of 35 hours per week. Can you tell me how this reduction in weekly hours will effect the calculation of my high-3 in regards to my retirement? How far out from my retirement date would I need to change back to a full-time (40 hours per week) position to regain…
Q. I’m a FERS employee whose federal service has been broken up by multiple periods of leave without pay due to permanent changes of station accompanying my active-duty spouse. I looked over your website and found lots of questions/answers regarding high-3 and LWOP of less than six months but not much on what happens when it is more than six months. Based on the answers I found, is LWOP greater than six months considered a break in service and thus possibly damaging to your high-3? For example, I worked 18 months at a base salary of $57,146 and $58,141, followed…
Q. I am 45 years old with 13 years of service under FERS and will be resigning this month to pursue other activities. I understand that I would eligible for a full pension (computed on my high-3) at age 62. That is 17 years away and, in the meantime, my defined benefit pension would remain static and thus be seriously eroded by inflation. Is there a way to protect myself against this within the pension system, or can I take a lump sum on separation and roll that into an IRA? If I take the lump sum, must I do…
Q. Is there a calculator where you can enter your service type (FERS vs. CSRS), military buyback years and months, current high-3 and projected retirement age to get an accurate retirement estimate? A. You’ll find what you’re looking for at www.fedbens.us.
Q. I am a FERS employee. I have 18 years of civil service and five years of Air Force service that I bought back for a total of 23 creditable years. I will reach my 30-year service mark long before my minimum retirement age of 57½. How is retirement calculated if I decide to go past the 30 years putting me at 38½ years of civil service and the MRA of 57½? I have heard that for each year over 30 you get additional percentage points.
Q. I am a letter carrier, age 52, started in 1985 and have 28 years of creditable service. If I understand what I’ve gleaned from the posts here and the Postal Service were to offer me a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority this year, 1. Would I begin my annuity immediately? 2. Would I have no reductions in calculations of my annuity? (average high-3 x 1 percent x 28) 3. Would I receive credit for half of my sick leave and all of my annual leave? (How are these applied?) 4. Would I receive the special retirement supplement beginning at age…
Q. My husband resigned from a Defense Department agency (non-civil service) after 29 years to work in the private sector. He was under CSRS, never converting to FERS. Before his resignation 10 years ago, he spoke to the agency’s personnel retirement representatives and was told he would still be able to collect retirement but only after he reached the age of 62. They told him that he should start the retirement paperwork six months from his 62nd birthday. Is this information correct? Does he lose the 2 percent for each year under the age of 62 he was when he…
Q. I am planning to retire Aug. 15 with 37 years, two months and 12 days under CSRS. I will be 60 years old. I know if I stay more than 40 years, I will get 80 percent of my salary. What I don’t understand, according to my retirement estimates, is that after age 62, I will be getting less of an annuity each year. How can this be? A. It can’t be. Something is wrong with either the estimator you are using or the data you are putting into it. Part of the problem may be that you misunderstand…