Browsing: RETIREMENT

Q: I am not retired yet, but I’d like to know how I will calculate what the additional benefit will be to my retirement income if I were to repay my military service deposit? In other words, from an expected retirement income perspective, how do I determine if it’s in my best financial interest to repay my military service deposit? A: Here’s the simple answer. If you are a Civil Service Retirement System employee, each additional year of service would produce approximately 2 percent increase in your annuity. If you are a Federal Employees Retirement System employee, it would produce…

Q: Will federal retirees who pay Medicare through their federal pension because they have insufficient Social Security quarters ever receive a refund and correction for an improper raise in Medicare premiums in 2010?  We, too, received no cost-of-living allowances. A: There wasn’t any “improper raise.” What you are referring to is the fact that when there wasn’t any cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits in 2010, an increase in Medicare premiums for Social Security beneficiaries was prohibited under the “hold harmless” provision of that law. On the other hand, there wasn’t any legal restriction to the required increase in premiums…

Q: I have a question on returning back to work part time in a federal job. I retired in February 2004 from the Postal Service. I retired in the Federal Employees Retirement System. I am thinking of returning back to work with the Transportation Security Administration. If I do, will it affect or reduce my annuity and my supplemental allowance? A: Unless you are hired into a position that allows you  to keep both your annuity and the full salary of your position, your new salary will be reduced by the amount of your annuity. Check before accepting the job.

Q: I read something in Reg Jones’ column in the Oct. 4 issue of Federal Times that I would like more information about. The district office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in San Francisco, my employer, no longer has a personnel specialist. I was hired by EEOC in February 1993. I retired from the Navy Reserve in 1995, and have just recently begun to draw retired reserve pay at age 60. I plan to retire from EEOC at the end of 2014. I will be 64 years old and have 21 years’ civilian service then. Questions: May I make…

Q: I am a reservist with 33 years of service, six of which were active. I purchased that time back before I became a Federal Employees Retirement System employee. I spent four years in the reserves that were not covered in my computation date. A typical year has about 50 points for reserve weekends, then active duty for training (two weeks) and occasionally longer schools and so forth. What periods of reservist time can be bought back? A: You can’t make a deposit to get credit for any reserve time, only periods when you were called to active duty. However,…

Q: My husband and I are both federal law enforcement officers. The family health plan is under my husband. We both plan to retire this year. He wants me to waive my survivor annuity and he says I will still be covered under our federal Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan because I was covered for the last five years of my employment under the Federal Employees Health Benefits family plan that he carried. He wants a bigger retirement check. My question is, if I sign the survivor annuity waiver and he dies before me, am I still automatically covered under our…

Q: I’m a Federal Employees Retirement Service employee, 54 years old with 25 years of service. I have a 91-year-old father with Alzheimer’s disease who requires full-time care. Is there any program where I could take an early retirement to care for him?  Also, I have an upcoming background investigation due. If I didn’t provide this, could I be fired, but still be eligible for immediate retirement? A: Along with receiving approval for the use of annual or sick leave, you could request up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Whether you would…

Q: According to the American Postal Workers Union, the grievance to give postal employees who took early out in 2008 and 2009 severance pay is now 15 months old. Is this going to happen? I voluntarily left, moved over for the next person, then in October 2009, they came out with the $15,000 buyout. I feel that postal employees who retired early really got the shaft. A: No one who accepts an offer to retire early is eligible for severance pay. On the other hand, what you may be asking is whether the U.S. Postal Service is going to give…

Q: I am a federal employee covered under the Federal Employees Retirement System. I am also paying Social Security taxes. Would I receive 100 percent of my retirement from both systems given that I retired at the stipulated age? Will my Social Security pension change my FERS pension? A: If you retire on an immediate annuity after reaching the right combination of age and service (62 years old with five years of service, 60 with 20, or at your minimum retirement age with 30), you’ll receive an unreduced FERS annuity and, if you retire before age 62, the special retirement…

Q: Can an employee under the Civil Service Retirement System retire prior to his 55th birthday if sick leave is calculated? For instance, I will turn 55 in June, so with six months of sick leave on the books, can I retire at 54 1/2 years old without penalty? A: Sick leave cannot be added to actual service to qualify you to retire. It can only be added after you have met the age and service requirements to retire.

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