Q. Is there an advantage to taking a disability retirement vs. a regular voluntary retirement? I am a 60-year-old Postal Service employee under CSRS with 38 years of service. My doctor agrees that I can no longer perform my job and will back me if I go for disability, but is it better financially one way or the other?
Q. I am a government employee not to exceed five years. I am eligible for benefits and furloughs. Am I also eligible for a step increase or within-grade increase?
Q. I am a FERS employee, 60 years old with 19 years and six months years of service. I have 2,000 hours of sick leave, which I know until Jan. 1 I will only receive half-credit. I have an opportunity for a position outside of federal government that I must take now or I lose it. I also know if I take my annuity now, I will be penalized 5.5 percent for every year I am under age 62. If I postpone my annuity to age 62, do my years of service become 20 years because six months of service…
Q. I am a 27-year FERS letter carrier with five years of military service for 32 years total. I’ll reach my minimum retirement age in 2016. I am 53 years old. Can I retire now? If so, how?
Q. I have approximately 24 years of FERS service (USDA, Forest Service) and have approximately six years (10 seasons) of temp/seasonal time, all of which occurred before 1989. I have paid a deposit for all of my time as a federal temp/seasonal employee. Will the special retirement supplement be calculated only on my 24 years of FERS service? Or, because I made the deposit for all of my seasonal time, will it be based on all 30 years of my federal service? I am hoping to retire at the end of the year. I will have over 30 years and…
Q. I have been working for the federal government for 40 years: six years in the Army, nine years in civil service, and the post office the rest of the time. I always paid in to the Federal Employees Health Benefits plan (except Army years) but I had to drop out for two years. Now I need to retire, but I will be four months short of the five-year minimum to take the FEHB into retirement. Does the Office of Personnel Management do waivers in this requirement? I am not on a VERA from the post office, but they offer…
Q. I have GEHA health insurance and primary and Tricare Standard as secondary coverage. When I reach age 65, my wife will be 64. Thus, how will Medicare apply to she and I? Must I keep my Federal Employees Health Benefits insurance until she is 65 to be covered by Medicare? I think my Tricare coverage will convert over to Tricare for Life at 65.
Q. I am eligible to retire from the Postal Service under CSRS with 37 years of service at age 57. My husband retired on disability from the Postal Service and took out the survivor annuity for me. When I retire and start receiving an annuity, if my husband should die, will I also receive the survivor benefit from my husband and my own retirement check?
Q. With no budget in place and lack of funding being the basics for furloughs, is Voluntary Separation Incentive Pay still available? I’m 60 with 28 years’ service and can do an early retirement with the annuity for two years prior to age 62. There is some rumor about a reduction in force in the future. Will I be able to draw the VSIP and still get the annuity? I’m getting a lot of conflicting advice about funding for a VSIP.
Q. I am a CSRS Offset employee, having 33 years with the federal government (five years and seven months as CSRS, 28 years as CSRS Offset). Prior to that, I worked and paid into Social Security. Now including CSRS Offset, I have more than 30 years of paying into Social Security. If my CSRS annuity is $1,000 monthly and Social Security pays me $1,000 monthly at age 62, can I expect to receive $2,000 monthly with no reductions from the windfall elimination provision and government pension offset?