Q. I’m 46, with 12½ years in civil service. Per ABC, I can do deferred retirement; however, VERA/VSIP has been offered. Will this null and void my deferred retirement since it is a voluntary resignation?
Q. I was ignorant about buying back military time and was given some incorrect information about it. I now realize I should have bought it back. I have six years of active-duty military. I retired Dec. 28. Is there any grace period that I could still buy back my six military years?
Q. I am 55 years old and left civil service in 2001. I started civil service in 1990 and paid to add my military time (14 years) into my civil service time. When I left civil service at age 43, I had more than 25 years of creditable service. My minimum retirement age is 56 years, and I would like to start collecting my retirement annuity as soon as possible. Does it matter that I was involuntarily separated from civil service due to losing my security clearance for reasons that were not my fault? I also heard that if I…
Q. When I retire, I will be 59½ and will have 30 years of service at the Postal Service. I will not have any earned income from that point on. I understand federal and state taxes will be taken out of my FERS annuity and any money I take out of my Thrift Savings Plan. Will I also have Social Security deducted from these two sources? Also, will my special retirement supplement and — when I turn 62, my SSI benefit — also be subject to federal and state taxes?
Q. I am a law enforcement officer who has been out on workers’ compensation since June 2011. My scheduled retirement date is in July with 20 years of service at age 55. I’m being paid partial disability at this time. Since I haven’t been on the job since 2011, did annual and sick leave still accrue? What happens with workers’ comp after retirement?
Q. Processing an individual for immediate retirement with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2013, but realized she was ineligible because she’s not 62 with five years of credible service. So we need to do leave without pay on her to get her past her 62nd birthday. She stopped working Dec. 31. What date do we make the leave without pay date effective? What should the end date be so that she can retire April 1, 2013?
Q. I’m a FERS employee preparing to retire at age 60 and 29 years of service. I have informed my human resources office and received the applications and an annuity estimate. I realize from reading your columns that the end of a pay period and month are good times to retire to receive the last annual leave increment and to begin the annuity on the first day of the following month. This year, a biweekly pay period ends on Saturday, June 1. However, that is not a work day in my agency. Can I retire on Friday, May 31 and…
Q. I’m about to turn 55 in May and will have 20 years at a quasi-government agency (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.) under FERS in July. My benefit statement indicates that I am eligible for ‘Voluntary Early or Discontinued’ in July with the early retirement if my agency has authority. The agency is reorganizing and human resources advised that they have sought approval from the Office of Personnel Management to offer buyouts and were awaiting a response from OPM. But HR was not sure how selectively my agency would offer them or whether they would only be offered to specific (and…
Q. I’m a 68-year-old Postal Service employee under FERS. I wanted to retire on or about May 10 because I began my postal career as a regular carrier on May 10, 2009. I purchased the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Basic medical insurance as soon as the open season began in 2009. Now someone tells me that to continue into retirement with the BC/BS medical insurance, I should have signed up for the medical insurance immediately when I became a regular carrier in May 2009. I thought I needed to wait until the open season. Can I still retire on or about…
Q. If my retirement application shows a retirement date of Jan. 2, 2014, what is the process to postpone retirement until March 2, 2014? How far ahead is notification for a change in retirement date submitted?