Q: We have a situation where management wants to force an employee on leave without pay because he cannot perform any duties as a result of a stroke. The employee has exhausted all accrued leave, but refuses to request leave without pay because he is two months short of completing 18 months of service so that he can apply for disability retirement. Do you know of any situation when management can force leave without pay upon an employee? We don’t think so, but we want to show the customer in writing. We have recommended that they place the employee on…
Browsing: RETIREMENT
Q: I can retire at 55 with 32 years under CSRS in the Postal Service. I have worked part time all this time. Last year I was sent what my retirement would be based on retiring at that time. I will only get about $10,000 a year. My husband has been self-employed, but will become a full-time rural carrier after being a substitute for 18 years. He has checked with Social Security, and so far he could receive $2,000 a month. When he becomes a full-time carrier he will be in FERS. I know about the windfall elimination and all,…
Q: My mother started with the U.S. Postal Service in 1974. Due to health issues, she retired on disability (not based on age or years of service) with her annuity commencing in September 1992. Her husband died in March and was receiving Social Security. When she applied for survivor benefits, it took almost three months for the Office of Personnel Managment to get back to Social Security and we were told even at that point they did not provide the information originally requested. Social Security made the decision that the survivor benefits fell under the windfall elimination provision. We are…
Q: If I received compensation for two years because of an injury at the U.S. Postal Service, does this delay my retirement for two years? A: If you were in leave-without-pay status while in receipt of workers’ compensation benefits, you’ll receive full credit for that period of time in determining your length of service and your high-3. LWOP while receiving Federal Employees Compensation Act, or FECA, benefits isn’t subject to the six-month limitation in a calendar year, as is other LWOP.
Q: From January 1990 through August 1993, I was a Treasury Department adviser to Saudi Arabian Ministry of Finance. During that tenure, I purchased credit in the retirement system for the three years of active duty in the Navy (1967-1970). So, I have something slightly in excess of 6.5 years in the system. I am now 67 years old and self-employed. My questions are the following: Do I have sufficient time in the Treasury Department’s retirement system to draw a monthly stipend? If so, who would I contact to start these benefits? If not, how much more time as a…
Q: I was a Federal Employees Retirement System employee and left the government in September 2005 under the Minimum Retirement Age +10 provision. I postponed my annuity to avoid the 5 percent penalty per year. I will be 62 in two months. Is there any advantage to waiting even longer to receive my annuity? Is it at all like Social Security, where the longer you wait, the more you receive? On the flip side, what are the downsides of applying at age 62? I understand that if I am re-employed by the government, my salary will be offset by my…
Q: I worked for the federal government for about 18 years. I resigned in 1985 and withdrew my retirement contributions. Is there any way that I might be eligible to receive retirement benefit for these years of service? I am now 65 years old. A: The only way you would be eligible for a retirement benefit would be if you returned to work for the federal government. While you would then get credit for that time in determining your length of service, you would receive no benefit unless you either redeposited the refund, plus accrued interest, or worked long enough…
Q: My husband recently turned 62 and applied for Social Security benefits. He is a previous Civil Service Retirement System employee, so we know that his Social Security benefit will be reduced. The problem is that he was previously married and must pay his ex-spouse a large portion of his CSRS retirement. Yet when his retirement income from CSRS was taken into account in order to offset his benefits, the Social Security Administration used his gross benefit amount and did not subtract the annuity for his former spouse. This reduced his benefits by a large portion. Why is it that…
Q: I spent two years (2004-2006) working for the Veterans Affairs Department at a work-study position in Buffalo, N.Y. Does this time in any way count toward Federal Employees Retirement System retirement eligibility or annuity computation? A: No, it doesn’t count.
Q: My spouse is a civil service employee and is planning to retire within the next eight months. He is 64 years old and will be 65 in March. He could have retired at age 55 but did not because of personal reasons. His health is beginning to fail him now, and he cannot continue to work in his current capacity. He worked more than 10 years at other companies before joining the civil service. He can receive full retirement benefits from the Civil Service Retirement System, but he is also eligible for a very small Social Security check, they…