Q. I’m a FERS employee. Before I got a career position, I was in a temporary appointment for a year. I’ve been told that I could buy back my temp time by making a deposit to the retirement system. Is that true? A. Unfortunately, no. Under FERS, periods of non-deduction service performed on or after Jan. 1, 1989, aren’t creditable for either length of service or annuity computation purposes.
Browsing: Service credit
Q. I retired from the U.S. Department of Agriculture after 30 years of service under CSRS. Before going to work for the government, I worked on odd jobs in the private sector and earned 25 credits under Social Security. I need 15 more to qualify for a Social Security benefit. My wife has more than enough Social Security credits to qualify for a benefit. Could I borrow any of those excess credits from her? A. No, you can’t. You’ll have to earn them yourself.
Q. I’ve made a deposit to get credit for my two years of active duty service. I also spent a good deal of time in the reserves on weekend and annual active duty for training. Will I receive any credit for that time? If so, would the credit go toward leave or retirement? A. No civilian credit of any kind is given for time spent in the reserves.
Q. I only paid part of my buy back for my military time and applied for deferred retirement from civil service in September 2018. I just got a letter from the Office of Management and Budget telling me that they have refunded my partial payment to get credit for my military time and that my claim was denied. Not counting my military time, I had 10½ years in civil service. Because I have been disabled for some time I have been receiving Social Security and I am 30 percent service-connected from the military, so I do receive a disability check…
Q. I was employed in June 2011 as an Army civilian. I served 33 years in the Marine Corps, out of which 14 years or so were active duty. I was still in the reserves when I was employed and retired from the reserves on July 1, 2011. My service computation date was computed to 08/27/97 for leave. After attending one of your seminars, I checked the government retirement and benefits website and my SCD on GRB is the same as my leave date. According to the GRB website, I am eligible for voluntary retirement on Jan. 18, 2020. Problem is,…
Q. How many years of continuous FERS service do I need with the federal government to be eligible for a retirement benefit? A. It depends on your age. As a FERS employee, you can retire at your minimum retirement age with 30 years of service, 60 with 20 or 62 with 5. (MRAs range from 55 to 57, depending on your birth year.) You can also retire at your MRA with as few as 10 years of service; however, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year (5/12ths of 1 percent per month) that you were under…
Q. I started at the Transportation Security Administration in May 2018 with a temporary appointment. No retirement deductions were taken from my pay. I was made a permanent employee in October of that year. Can I buy back the temporary time and have it used in the computation of my FERS annuity? A. Unfortunately, no. Nondeduction service performed on or after Jan. 1, 1989, isn’t creditable for either retirement eligibility or computation purposes. Therefore, you can’t make a deposit to get credit for that time.
Q. Is time spent at a military service academy creditable for civilian retirement if the employee did not graduate? A. Yes, time spent at one of the military academies is creditable, even if you didn’t graduate. The only exception to that rule is for foreign nationals who are receiving training under an agreement with a foreign government.
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. In 2005, I resigned from my position as a civil servant and didn’t ask for a refund of my retirement contributions. At the time I was 51 and had 24 years of service. Do I have any options in order to receive a retirement benefit based on my 24 years of service? A. Because you have at least 20 years of service but fewer than 30, you can apply for a deferred annuity at age 60. That annuity will be based on the average of your highest three consecutive years of basic pay and your total years and full…