Q: I work in Alaska as an Army civilian police officer. Where I am stationed, we receive specialty pay. For example, I am a GS 08 about to move up to GS 09. My current GS 08 step 4 pay is $54,633. On top of this, we still get cost-of-living allowance here, which for me turns out to be $11,440.15. A normal GS-scale employee as an GS 08 step 4 receives $41,393. Does my specialty pay count toward my Federal Employees Retirement System annuity? In other words, is my retirement based on the $54,633, or is it based on $41,393?…
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Q: My “high-3” years are not my last three years. I am thinking of retiring in June, and I have read that your last three consecutive years are your high-3 years. My highest three years, salary-wise, were 2003 to 2005. Will they use those years or my last three? A: An employee’s high-3 is always the highest three consecutive years of average salary, no matter when they occur in a career.
Q: An employee told me that if you retire (under the Civil Service Retirement System) with your full 41 years, 11 months, or more of service, and have more than one year of sick leave, you have the option to receive the cash payout for the sick leave instead of taking the extra 2 percent. Is there any truth to this rumor? A: No, there isn’t. Unlike annual leave, sick leave has no cash value. On the other hand, it can be added to actual service time after you become eligible to retire and used to increase the amount of…
Q: I need to know any rules, regulations or laws that cover the service computation date. I am prior military with more than 20 years of total service and 10 years of active-duty service, and my agency is not taking that time into consideration for leave purposes. A: The Office of Personnel Management has a VetGuide that will answer your question. Scroll down to “Service Credit for Leave Rate Accrual and Retirement.”
Q: I’m retired Army chief warrant officer 3 and worked 13 years as an Army contractor. I’ve been in civil service for nine months as a logistics management specialist. Can my 13 years of contracting time in a job similar to what I do presently be counted toward pay and leave time for the civil service? If so, what forms do I need to submit? I am getting conflicting information. A: No, it can’t.
Q: I am an employee with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in a covered 6(c) law enforcement position. I have 19 6(c) law enforcement years for retirement purposes. I am also in the National Guard. If I enter the active-duty Army and take leave without pay for the next five years, which years would be included to make up my “high 3” for retirement purposes under the Federal Employees Retirement System? Is the high-3 calculation based on actual money earned (i.e., the three years prior to entering active duty with the military), or is it based on my paygrade and…
Q: In previous responses, you indicated that when a lump-sum base closure and realignment payment is made, federal and state income taxes, as well as Medicare deductions, will come out of the payment. You also indicated Social Security deductions can be taken out. As a Civil Service Retirement System employee, I do not pay into Social Security. Does that mean that no CSRS retirement payments will be taken out? Also, the lump sum will be close to $80,000 and should be paid in my last paycheck; are there any limitations on payouts? A: Social Security deductions would only be made…
Q: I am a GS-11 who has my overtime hourly rate capped at $38.31. Is there a calculator available that will help me decide how many overtime hours to take pay for as opposed to taking compensatory time? At a certain point, it is not worthwhile to take overtime pay because of the increase in the amount of federal tax withdrawn? A: I’m not aware of any such calculator. However, if anyone out there is, please let me know and I’ll share the information with our readers.
Q: I’m a WG-9, Step 3. We just recently received the 2010 cost-of-living adjustment. However, it was not retroactive to January 2010 like the GS COLA adjustments were. Will this automatically be retroactive, or is this COLA effective the date the president signed the order? A: Wage system and GS employees don’t receive cost-of-living adjustments. They receive pay increases. While the increases for GS employees are usually effective on the first pay period beginning on or after Jan. 1, wage system increases are based on wage surveys conducted at different times of the year and vary by locality.
Q. I am a federal employee already on Medicare Part A. My tax preparer recently told me that persons signed up for Medicare are not eligible for flexible spending accounts which allow for the payment of health-care expenses with untaxed earnings. Is this true? I think he might have gotten mixed up with health savings accounts, which I don’t have. Also, please clarify whether the amount withheld from my paycheck (i.e. $3,000 yearly) to fund the flexible spending account is deducted from basic pay in calculating high-3 pay for a FERS annuity. How is this done? A: Under current law,…