Q. I am a federal employee who is covered by Tricare. Is it true that I can enroll in the FEHB program during the next Open Season and then put it on “hold” when I retire, I can activate it again if I need it? A. Yes, it’s true. If you are enrolled in the FEHB program when you retire, you can suspend that coverage, then reactive it if you ever lose coverage under Tricare.
Browsing: RETIREMENT
Q. If I get married after I retire and elect a survivor annuity for my husband, I understand that I would need to pay the difference of what I would have paid had we been married at retirement plus 6 percent interest. For example, if I retired in January and married in June, if I understand this correctly, I need to wait 9 months for it to be effective so 9 plus 5 (months I would be married) would equal 14 months. If, for example, the difference in the annuity would be $50, I would owe $50×14 = $700 plus…
Q. What is the difference in benefits for CSRS disability and regular retirement with 38 years of service? A. There isn’t any. As a rule, disability benefits will equal earned benefits for any employee who has at least 22 years or more of CSRS service.
Q. I’m a CSRS employee who will be retiring on Dec. 31. Over the years I worked odd jobs and earned 32 Social Security credits. When I retire I’ll be paid for a lot of unused annual leave. Can that time be used to buy additional Social Security credits? A. Your paid annual leave cannot be used to get Social Security credits. Only earnings from wages or self-employment that are subject to Social Security taxes can secure those credits.
Q. Is there a limit on how many hours of comp time you can get paid for when you retire? Does the balance of annual leave have any effect on your comp time balance? A. Compensatory time must be used within 26 pay periods. If you retire and have any compensatory time remaining, it will be paid at the hourly overtime rate in effect when you earned it.
Q. I have over 12 years of active duty service in the Army. I have accepted a job with a federal agency. I’ve been told that I can “buy back” my active duty time. How do I go about doing that? A. Yes, you can make a deposit for your active duty service and get credit for that time in determining your length of civilian service and have it used in your civilian annuity computation when you retire from the government. If you complete that deposit within two years after you come on board, you won’t be charged any interest on…
Q. Do CSRS Offset retirees receive separate payments from Social Security and the Office of Personnel Management? A. If you retire before age 62, you will receive a single annuity payment from OPM. When you reach age 62, your CSRS annuity will be reduced by the amount of Social Security benefit you earned while a CSRS offset employee, and you will begin receiving a separate Social Security payment that represents the amount of Social Security benefit you earned while covered by CSRS Offset. That payment will be larger if you have other Social Security-covered service outside of your years as…
Q. I am a FERS employee who is planning on retiring in December 2019. Since the last day in December is in the middle of a pay period, if I leave on 12/31/2019, would I need to use leave to “fill out” the rest of the pay period? A. No, you wouldn’t. Since only employees can use leave, you couldn’t “fill out” the rest of the pay period after you retired on Dec. 31.
Q. I retired in 2011 from the United States Postal Service. I kept BCBS insurance. I only signed up for Medicare Part A. If I choose to sign up for Part B now and drop BCBS, will I have to pay a penalty? A. Yes, you would have to pay a penalty. And it might be a whopper. Because you didn’t sign up when you were first eligible to do so, the premium you’d have to pay would be 10 percent higher for each year you were eligible to enroll in Part B and didn’t.
Q. I’m a FERS disability annuitant. Assuming that I continue to be disabled, what happens when I reach age 62? A. When you reach age 62, your FERS disability benefit will be recomputed as if you had worked to age 62. Your actual service will be added to the time you spent on disability and the total time will be multiplied by 1.1 percent That figure will then be multiplied by your high-3 salary on the day you were found disabled. That dollar figure will be increased by any cost-of-living increases paid to FERS retirees since you retired on disability.