Q. I served in the Navy from 1982-1987, then worked for the Postal Service from 1987-2003. I resigned from the Postal Service in 2003, hence, a total of 21 yrs of service. Am I entitled to any retirement benefits? A. Because you were employed under FERS for at least five years, you would be eligible for a deferred annuity at age 62, but only if you didn’t take a refund of your retirement contributions when you left. You wouldn’t receive any credit for your active-duty service in determining your length of service or in your annuity computation unless you had made a…
Q. I am a Postal Service employee under the Federal Employees Retirement System who will have eight years of service in April. If I decide to retire with 10 years of service in 2014 at the age of 58½, would I receive health benefits from the USPS, and could I receive a full annuity if I waited to draw the annuity at age 67, or would this affect insurance benefits? A. If you retire with 10 years of service, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year you were under age 62. Assuming that you were enrolled in the…
Q. I was injured at work (for the Department of Labor) in 2003. I am now 64 years old and still receiving workers’ compensation. When will it stop? A. Assuming that you are still disabled, it can go on for the rest of your life. However, some members of Congress are trying to change that.
Q. I am 58 years old, and I have a service date of 1975. I am under the Civil Service Retirement System. I recently retired from the military after 33 years of reserve service (no active duty service over 90 consecutive days). My reserve pay was subject to Social Security withholding. What impact will my military reserve retirement pay have on my CSRS annuity? Will my CSRS or military retirement be subject to a reduction, or do I have to redeposit money? How do I determine whether I have to redeposit any money? Do I still get to Social Security at…
Q. For a high-3 calculation, do the three consecutive years have to be continuous? I’m a Civil Service Retirement System Offset employee who was reinstated in March 2011 after an 18-year break in service but would be eligible to retire at age 60 in about 14 months. Would my high-3 be the two years since my return to federal service and then my last from 18 years ago? A. The three years have to be consecutive, but they don’t have to be continuous. Therefore, assuming that the current salary is higher than the one you had when you left government,…
Q. If I do a full retirement under the Civil Service Retirement System and accepted a buyout offer as an inducement for electing voluntary early retirement, will I be able to collect unemployment compensation insurance if I look for employment outside of federal service? A. No.
Q. I have a question regarding adding sick leave to complete partial months of creditable federal service. I’m a federal law enforcement agent with over 20 years of Federal Employees Retirement System time and am over 50 years old. My service computation date is April 22, 1985, which means as of Dec. 22, 2011, I had 26 years, eight months of service, including military time. By Dec. 31, I’d have nine extra days of service that will be lost because the Office of Personnel Management only recognizes years and full months. I want to add sick leave days to complete a…
Q. I worked as a WG-10 for the Air Force from November 1985 to July 2000, after fours years of active duty. I already rolled over my Thrift Savings Plan 401(k). I was under the Federal Employees Retirement System, but I remember contributing a small amount each pay period toward retirement. Where can I find out what benefits I will receive and when I am eligible to collect? A. Assuming that you didn’t get a refund of your retirement contributions, at age 62 you could apply for a deferred annuity. It would be computed using the following formula: 0.01 x…
Q. You have indicated that when an early out is offered, Federal Employees Retirement System employees with more than 25 years are eligible at any age. So in theory, a potential annuitant could easily be less than 50. If the employee is not at the mandatory retirement age but has the 25-plus years of service accepts the offer, is he or she entitled to the Social Security makeup benefit? If not immediately, when? A. Unless they are special category employees, such as law enforcement officers, they won’t be eligible for the special retirement supplement until they reach their minimum retirement age. MRAs…
Q. I submitted the paperwork to Army’s Defense Finance and Accounting Services via fax several months ago. I have not received the amount that I have to pay back to receive credit for the 16 years, seven days of military service from March 19, 1969, to March 25, 1985. I am a civil service employee. Is there a contact number at DFAS, or an email address with which I can follow up on this? I am currently assigned to Okinawa, Japan. I have asked my personnel office in Redstone Arsenal, Ala., but have not received an answer yet. A. You…