Q. I am contemplating retirement with a separation date of Jan. 6, 2014. Under FERS, my creditable service for retirement (on Jan. 6, 2014) will be 29 years and two months (service computation date of Oct. 24 1984). My creditable service for RIF and leave (on Jan. 6, 2014) will be 31 years and seven months (service computation date of June 20, 1982). The estimate I have indicates the MRA+10 provision, reducing my annuity by approximately 35 percent (5 percent each year under 62; I will be 57 in January). From an eligibility standpoint, which would be the correct creditable…
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Q. I am receiving the FERS special retirement supplement, and there is a withholding due to my 2012 earnings. In April 2014, I turn 62 and the supplement ends. How with the withholding due to my 2013 earnings affect my retirement benefit at that time?
Q. In 2011, I left my civil service job for 175 days to deploy to Afghanistan as an active-duty officer. While deployed, I used a day or two of annual or military leave every pay period to pay for my health care benefits. FERS payments also were made on the days I was on paid leave. When I got back from my deployment, I was told I had to buy back the time, and I put in paperwork with DFAS to do so. However, I just read in my agency’s furlough FAQ that: The amount of a CSRS or FERS…
Q. I am a retired foreign service officer and elected to keep my health insurance (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), for which I pay about $430 monthly. When I die, will my wife be able to continue with this coverage? At the same cost? Or less, as she’ll be the only one covered, as our kids are grown.
Q. I am a reserve firefighter. As a full-time firefighter, 25 years of service are required to retire; do I have to spend all 25 years with one department, or can I transfer?
Q. I am in the GS, age 64. I hit seven years overseas and am on the Priority Placement Program to return to the U.S. Instead, I plan to stay overseas and marry a local national. My options are to retire at 13 years’ service or to resign and take a Non-Appropriated Fund job on base to continue earning FERS coverage. I understand that next year I must enroll in Medicare Part A, although I will be overseas and unable to use it. Is there any benefit to me also enrolling in Part B if I plan to retire overseas?…
Q. I retired as a CSRS employee Nov. 30, 2006, and am a rehired annuitant. I have been working in my current position with the Air Force for the last 22 months, receiving both my annuity and the full salary of my new position. I want to find another way to add to my retirement before this overseas job ends. What additional retirement program options do I have? I was told by Air Force personnel management that I do not qualify for supplementing/contributing to my CSRS annuity. TSP also is closed for me to invest in since I started to…
Q. My father retired from the federal government in 1976. For whatever reason, he does not have Medicare Part A. My mother recently suffered a stroke, and because my dad did not have Medicare Part A, rehab at a nursing facility will not be covered. Apparently federal workers did not pay into the Social Security system back then and therefore have had to pay separately for Part A. It took hours of calls to SSA, OPM and Medicare to unravel this bureaucratic mess! BCBS (federal) is his secondary insurance and would not pay because Medicare A is primary. (BCBS was…
Q. I am a dual-status federal technician age 43, with 14 years of federal service and 21 years of military service. I am trying to determine how early I could retire and receive an immediate annuity. There seems to be wording that age 50, with 20 years of federal service (which I would achieve in seven years), surpasses a threshold where this is possible, but additional wording is confusing (see below). Does this mean I can voluntarily depart the military (and, thus the dual-status federal technician job) at that time, or do I need to be involuntarily separated to receive…
Q. Since I started receiving a FERS disability annuity, I have worked while still receiving the annuity. What percent of my federal service salary can I earn without losing my annuity? (It was 60 percent or so.) I was a GS-855-12 step 2. What is the current salary for that position (GS schedules are easy to find, but not GS-855 salary schedules showing their higher rates of pay)? Do I still lose my disability annuity if I return to work for the federal government as a teacher at an overseas military base? (It used to be that returning to work…