Browsing: Special category employee retirement

Q: For 12 years I was a federal police lieutenant (GS-083) working for the Defense Department at China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, California. In 1997, I was offered and approved for the VISP/VERA program. The government had purchased my primary residence at mortgage value as part of the package. They also provided me a severance package as well as all of my retirement contributions. I was 37 when I left government service. Since I was a career civil servant that left under the VISP/VERA program, does the above separation mean that I am retired from civil service?…

Q. I just left a FERS retirement seminar. Heard something I have never heard before. I am an air traffic controller and get Controller Incentive Pay. (CIP) The speaker said that CIP was considered special pay and should be added to basic pay and locality pay when calculating retirement. Is this true? A. Single agency occupation rules fall outside the bounds of this forum. However, it’s my impression that controller incentive pay is not included when computing a high-3. If anyone out there knows for sure, please let me know and I’ll share it with our readers.

Q. I was just hired as a GS-0081 with the Department of Veterans Affairs after retiring from 20 years in the Air Force. I was hired at age 38 thanks to the recent ruling by OPM to repeal the maximum entry age. My concern is whether I will be able to complete my 20 years for the FERS retirement from the GS-0081. As it looks now, I will come up just a few months short. Are there going to be any changes to the maximum retirement age? This doesn’t seem fair if I’m still able to do the job and…

Q. I hired into federal law enforcement in 1994 at the age of 22. After 20 years service, I will be 42 years old. If I transfer to another federal agency for five additional years of non-LEO for a total of 25 years can I receive early LEO Retirement if I then retire at 47? A. No, you can’t. You can only retire at such an early age if you have 25 years of covered service as a law enforcement officer.

Q. My question is regarding special category employees. I’ve heard that over 16,000 employees would be affected by this. If an employee is promoted to GS-08 before he reaches 20 years of service, he would not be entitled to special category retirement pay. Is this true? If it is, what can I do to retire as a special category employee? A. To be eligible to retire as a firefighter under the enhanced benefit formula, you need to be employed for 20 years in a covered position. While you must start in a primary position, you may later transfer to a…

Q. I just attended an agency-sponsored retirement class at my office. It was told, by the private contractor, to all the firefighters and law enforcement personnel attending that overtime is calculated as part of your base pay along with locality pay when considering your high-3. Is this true? Can we include the overtime and if so can you please cite where I can find it? A. No, it isn’t true. Overtime, as such, is not considered to be a part of basic pay when calculating an employee’s high-3. However, firefighters do get credit for a certain portion of their standby…

Q. I am a DoD firefighter for the Department of the Army for three years now. Before my current employment I was an Air Force military firefighter for eight years. I am in the process of buying back my military time and I entered the federal system at the age of 30. What age can I retire? I have been told that the eight years can be added to the “front end” of my retirement, which would mean I could retire at the age of 47 (25 years any age). Now the other scenario is age 50 and 20 years…

Q. I need to know the percentage I contributed toward my pension as a retired law enforcement officer ( I retired in 2008), and what percentage the government contributed. A. When you retired, the amount of your own contributions was reported on the package sent to you by OPM. You could also find it on your final pay voucher. To find out what your agency contributed, you’ll have to get that from your former agency. The amount depends on your retirement system and, in the case of FERS, varied over time.

Q. On Feb 16, you answered the below stated question, Can I please get some more information on this. Any reference or regulation you were using. We have a firefighter who will be retiring in the next nine months who was told by our CPAC (Army Civilian Personnel Office) that even though he will have 20+ years as a firefighter, If he leaves special retirement and transfers to another job instead of retiring that is outside of the special retirement, that he will lose it, and when he finally retires, it will be a normal retirement rate even though he…

Q. I have been in a primary firefighter position for roughly nine years. I am curious what will happen to my FERS retirement calculations if I move into a position that is not covered by special retirement rules, for example, a recreation job. How will the nine years of firefighter time be figured into my retirement calculations? I understand that more money (1.7 percent) is deducted from my paycheck for my retirement fund than my co-workers who are not firefighters, so that must come into play when my retirement annuity is calculated, right? I’ve been looking at the FERS handbook,…

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