Q. I’m a CSRS Offset employee (58 years old) contemplating retirement in 2½ years with more than 41 years of service (plus over 1,400 hours of sick leave). Eight of the aforementioned years are active military. I plan to buy back those eight military years of service. Will buying those eight years of military service neutralize the reduction I face at age 62? I have also been employed for the past 13 years with a worldwide retailer and plan on continued employment with this retailer until age 62. Is it true that my CSRS service pension would not be affected…
Browsing: CSRS Offset
Q. I am a retired federal employee under CSRS Offset, where my Social Security kicks in at age 62 and my CSRS is reduced. Am I allowed, or is it beneficial for me to file for Social Security benefits at age 60 since my husband is deceased?
Q. When my job was moved during a base realignment and closure, I elected to leave the organization and take my chances in the Priority Placement Program. As a result, I received a severance package that was to provide me a “wage” until I was placed by PPP. Unfortunately, I was never placed and at the end of the one-year period and was released. How does that severance payout affect my retirement calculation? Is severance pay resulting from BRAC and PPP a separate issue that has nothing to do with retirement? I am within three years of retiring. At that…
Q. I am looking for any successful challenges to the five-year rule. I began federal service July 1984, 2½ years before FERS became effective. I was placed originally in CSRS offset and then placed fully in FERS due to the five-year rule. I want to be under CSRS. I am 56, and I have 29 years of federal service and four years military service (Air Force, 1975-1979). Is there any way to beat this five-year unfair decision?
Q. I am a CSRS Offset employee. I had seven years and 10 months of CSRS service when I left and took my funds out. I returned as CSRS Offset after a 15-month break, did not make a redeposit and now have an additional 26 years of service. I am looking at retiring in 4½ years at age 60. In addition, I am divorced (married 28 years and one month, not remarried). My ex-husband has always made substantially more. Based on the scenario stated, I am of the opinion that: 1. The windfall elimination provision will not apply since I…
Q. I am in CSRS offset, and I am eligible to retire now. I turned 66 on April 8. I started collecting Social Security benefits as of Jan. 1 and continue to work. How will my retirement calculation change when I retire? Most, but not all, of the Social Security benefits were earned while I was under CSRS offset. I copied the following excerpt from “Ask the Experts”: “In the year you reached your full retirement age, it would be reduced by $1 out of every $3 you earned. After that, there wouldn’t be any reduction.” I don’t understand what…
Q. I have worked with the understanding that I would enjoy a CSRS retirement. When I turned in a request for retirement computation, I found out that I was a CSRS Offset employee, and they began removing Social Security payments from my paycheck. I am over 55 and have worked over 30 years with the same federal company. I had a break in service to have a baby (that was back when the Family Medical Leave Act did not exist, and I had to quit and return to work as a temp for a year and then be made permanent…
Q. I will be 63 this month. I worked at the Postal Service from 1969 to 1981 as a letter carrier. I took the CSRS money out when I left in 1981. I worked in the private sector from 1981 to 1989. I came back to USPS in 1989, paid back the CSRS money and am now in CSRS offset. I have about 37 years in USPS and plan to work here another three years. Where can I find some info to help me decide whether to retire from USPS now and work in private sector or keep working at…
Q. I am a retired federal employee on CSRS Offset. Law enforcement with mandatory retirement at age 57. My wife is older than I am and is drawing on her own Social Security. Until I am 62, all of the money is CSRS. When I turn 62, I will start to draw Social Security and my CSRS annuity will be reduced. Would my wife then be able to draw the spouse one-half amount of my Social Security (or whichever is the larger amount between us), or is there any language in which she would be restricted from my Social Security…
Q. I retired under CSRS Offset (disability) from the federal government at age 52 in 2005 with 26 years of service. I was told by human resources that, at age 62, it is mandatory that I apply for Social Security retirement, and if I did not do so, I would be subject to an overpayment that must be repaid. HR also told me that I would have no choice in the matter — that after applying for Social Security at age 62, my federal Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance would become secondary and Medicare would become primary health carrier. Is…