Q. I’m a FERS employee and plan to retire at minimum retirement age, which is 56. However, I’ll have fewer than 30 years of service. Is the 5 percent per year penalty based on each year short of 30 years, or is it based on each year short of age 62? A. The MRA+10 provision allows FERS employees to retire at their minimum retirement age with fewer than 30 years of service. If you retire under that provision, your annuity will be reduced by 5 percent for every year (or 5/12 of 1 percent per month) that you are under…
Browsing: RETIREMENT
Q. I have been working under FERS. I plan to retire in 13 years at age 67. Before coming to work for the government, I worked in the private sector and paid into the Social Security system for over 30 years. Will I receive both a full FERS and a full Social Security benefit when I retire? A. Yes. You’ll receive a FERS annuity based on your years of FERS-covered employment and, because you will have reached your full Social Security retirement age, a Social Security benefit based on all your Social Security-covered employment.
Q. I retired a year-and-a-half ago. When my wife died, I informed OPM and sent them the paperwork needed to eliminate the reduction in my annuity to provide a survivor benefit for her. OPM recomputed my annuity and increased it, but only for the months between when she died and the present. Shouldn’t I have received a payment that was retroactive to the date I retired? A. No. Because the law doesn’t provide for retroactive payments, OPM could only increase your annuity prospectively beginning with the month in which your wife died.
Q. I was a government employee for several years and didn’t ask for a refund of my retirement contributions when I left. How can I find a record of my employment and if I’m eligible for a deferred annuity? A. Your employment record is stored in the National Personnel Records Center, located in St. Louis, Mo. You’ll find the instructions for getting that information at www.archives.gov/st-louis/civilian-personnel/index.html#. Once you have it, you can complete OPM Form 1496A, Application for Deferred Retirement, available at www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/opm1496a.pdf, and send it to OPM. If you have at least 5 years of creditable service and are at least 62…
Q. If I am involuntarily separated because of my performance with a SCD date of 9/22/90 at the age of 62, will I be able to retire? A. Yes. That’s because any federal employee who is at least 62 years old and has at least five years of creditable service can retire and receive an annuity.
Q. I’m retiring with four months of sick leave, bringing my total time in FERS to 32 years, 1 month at age 65. In the interest of increasing final annuity, I have been using annual leave, rather than sick leave, for medical appointments and when ill. In retrospect, it seems I did not accomplish much, and that using sick leave as intended and preserving annual leave to increase lump sum payout might have been a better strategy. Correct? A. Maybe, maybe not. There are too many variables. While unused annual leave will be paid out at the hourly rate you…
Q. I’m a firefighter under the special retirement plan. I’m at 20 years of civilian service but 44 years old. I meet the minimum service time, but not the age. Can I leave the civil service now? If I do, when would I receive my annuity? A. If you leave before being eligible to retire on an immediate annuity, you could apply for a deferred annuity when you reach your minimum retirement age, which is 57. That annuity would be based on your high-3 as a firefighter on the day you left. Note: You wouldn’t be able to reenroll in…
Q. I am a 46-year-old employee covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System. I have been enrolled in the FEHB for the last six years. If I resign from the government and apply for a deferred annuity at age 62, will I be able to reenroll in the FEHB when I collect my annuity? A. No, you won’t be able to do that. Deferred annuitants aren’t eligible to reenroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program.
Q. I’ll soon be retiring. Will I be paid for any holidays that occur during my accrued annual leave? A. Yes. When you retire, your unused annual leave will be projected forward as if you were still on the job working eight hours a day, 40 hours a week and 80 hours a pay period.
Q. I was 56 years old with 33 years total government service and retired regular FERS then applied for Social Security Disability Insurance and was approved with back pay after the first 6 months of my retirement date. I only got $685 of my special retirement supplement because several of those years was active duty, which I repaid within the first 36 months of my career at the U.S. Postal Service. Now I am wondering what will happen to my annuity when I turn 62 and my SRS is eliminated. A. At age 62, your special retirement supplement will end;…