Q. I understand that when you retire, Medicare is your primary and federal insurance is your secondary. Will federal insurance still pay for prescription drugs even if you do not have a plan under Medicare?
Q. Is there a minimum probation or vesting period required to be eligible to participate in FERS? Suppose a person worked for the federal government for one year, had nine years of military service and participated in the military buyback? Would this be considered 10 years of creditable service? Would the person be eligible for a retirement annuity?
Q. Consider a retired federal employee who was married and has chosen a spouse survivor benefit at the time of retirement. If the spouse dies and the annuitant remarries: 1. Are further annuity reductions needed to cover the new spouse? 2. Is the nine-month waiting period still required? 3. If the original survivor benefit was less than full, can the benefit be increased (with increased annuity reduction)?
Q. I am under CSRS offset. I am going to retire in three years at age 62. I know my government pension will be reduced by $213 when I turn 62. According to my Social Security statement, I should receive $888 if I collect at age 62. It states: “At your current earnings rate, if you continue working until 66, you will receive $1,366 a month.” What happens if I don’t collect Social Security at age 62 and wait until full retirement age? Will I receive $1,366 a month minus the $213 offset reduction, minus the windfall elimination provision? (I…
Q. I am an FERS GS with four years until I get my 20 under 6(c) law enforcement officer and a year and half after that until mandatory retirement. I have been offered a 6(c) job overseas — how is the high-3 calculated? Is it on the base level GS schedule (plus LEAP) I actually earn, or is it based on a modified amount of what I would have earned in DC — which is how the overseas postings on Foreign Service retirement seems to work? I am pretty sure all the COLA, post allowances and danger pays don’t calculate…
Q. In calculating a retiree’s high-3, do personnel consider the pay rate I should be receiving or the pay rate I am actually receiving? Under this pay freeze, I am a FS-01 Step 5, but I am being paid at the FS-01 Step 3 level. If I retired this year, would my annuity be calculated using the pay I should be receiving (at the Step 5 level) or usingthe pay I’m actually receiving (at the Step 3 level)?
Q. I would like to retire at between 56 and 58 with deferment until I reach age 60 and can draw my reserve retirement. I am a gray area reservist with 20 creditable years of total service. This includes four years and two months of active duty that I bought back after I accepted a FERS position. I have been with FERS for 20 years, including buyback. Will I still be able to draw both retirements since my military retirement is a reserve retirement? In 2017, I will have 25 years, and I would like to retire no later than…
Q. I retired under CSRS nine years ago and took the survivor annuity. Each year, my Notice of Annuity statement identifies the monthly survivor annuity amount payable to my wife upon my death. My wife and I are both in good health. My only child is 34, has been identified by Social Security Administration as disabled (cerebral palsy) and receives SSDI and Medicare (based on his work history before he became completely disabled). He receives about $1,000 per month. CSRS Brochure Retirement Facts 5 (October 1997) states that each child with no surviving parent receives $404 per month with COLA…
Q. If I have 20 years of federal service (including more than 15 in the foreign service) but I haven’t turned 50, can I retire but defer receipt of my benefits/pension until I am eligible at age 50? For example, an employee is 47 years old and has completed 20 years of federal service. Can that employee leave the service and still receive full retirement benefits beginning at age 50?
Q. I receive a FERS annuity. If I receive Social Security disability, I understand I lose 60 percent of that pay until I’m 62. Will FERS go back however many months and make me pay back the difference for those months of retroactive pay from Social Security? In other words, if I collect six months of retroactive pay from Social Security do I owe FERS 60 percent of my annuity that I received for those six months?