Q: I’m under FERS, have 23 years service, and am 53. If I were to be laid off under a reduction in force, what would my pension and health benefits be? Would I continue to be able to purchase health insurance through FEHBP? A: Your annuity would be calculated using the following formula: 0.01 x your high-3 x your years and full months of service. You would also be eligible for the special retirement supplement when you reached your minimum retirement age. If you were enrolled in the FEHB program at the time you were separated, you would be able…
Q: I am a CSRS retiree. How can I compute how much my annuity will increase once the 55 percent annuity survivor benefit is no longer valid? A: Start by computing what you annuity would have been if you hadn’t elected a survivor annuity, using the following formula: 0.015 x your high-3 on the day you retired x 5 years of service, plus 0.0175 x your high-3 x 5 years of service, plus 0.02 x your high-3 x all remaining years and full months of service. Once you have the product of that calculation, multiply it by each cost-of-living adjustment…
Q: I am an information technology specialist under the Federal Employees Retirement System. I have a service computation date of 1998. I retired early from the Navy with 18 years of military service and part of my retirement is a 30 percent service-connected disability from the Veterans Affairs Department, the rest is from the Navy. If I buy back my military time, will I lose my disability payment along with my retired payment from the Navy? A: If you make a deposit to get credit for your active duty service, you will also have to waive your military retired pay…
Q: I am a retired Air Force veteran of 26 years (1968-1994) and soon will become eligible for a 10 years of service under FERS. I will also become eligible for early Social Security benefits at age 62 at the same time. Both my military and federal civilian careers paid into Social Security. Because I am drawing two federal retirements, will my Social Security benefits be reduced/penalized? A: No, you won’t be penalized. Your Social Security benefit will be based on all your years of Social Security-covered employment.
Q: I have a question about the MRA + 10 rule for retirement under FERS. My understanding is if I have at least 10 years of federal service when I turn 56, which is my minimum retirement age, then I can apply for an immediate annuity under the MRA + 10. I have six years under FERS and am 48 years old. So I will actually have 14 years at my MRA. Is my assumption correct? A: Yes, you are correct; however, if you retire under the MRA+10 provision, your annuity will be reduced by 5 percent per year (5/12…
Q: I returned from overseas last year with 360 hours accrued leave; it is my understanding that I can retain that level of leave until retirement and only leave accrued above that level is subject to use or lose. Is that correct? I have passed 15 years of service, so I accrue eight hours per pay period. Also, I had 15 days of home leave accrued that wasn’t used. Did that go away when I returned to CONUS? A: Overseas employees are allowed to accumulate 45 days of annual leave and may retain that leave balance until it is used…
Q: Is there any current retirement option that allows the addition of civilian employee years of service to a military retirement payment? I understand the options for doing it in the other direction, and it is not beneficial for me to buy back my military retirement and apply it to my civil service time, because in addition to the buyback, and in my case the interest penalty, I would get less money after all calculations are made. A: There is no provision in law that would allow you to add your civilian service to your military service. Nor, to the…
Q: What is the status of HR 4865, the bill that would allow federal retirees to deposit the cash value of their annual leave into TSP? Any chance of it being passed this year or next? A: HR 4865 was reported out of the House Oversight and Reform Committee on April 14. Since then, no further action has been taken on it. Because there isn’t any companion bill in the Senate, it’s unlikely that anything will happen during this session of Congress. Next year is too far out of the range of my crystal ball to hazard a guess on…
Q: My wife and I are federal employees and under FERS. Each of us has had individual coverage under FEHB (Blue Cross Blue Shield) since we began working for the government. We plan on retiring next year at the end of June. She will be 61 and have 26 years of service. I will be 58 and have 20 years of service. I will qualify under the MRA +10, but postpone my retirement until I become 60 in order to avoid the age penalty. One option we are looking at is converting to a family plan this open season so…
Q: Does the SRS that I receive at MRA come out of my Social Security benefits? And, if so, would that mean my benefits at 62 would be reduced since I would have received a portion beforehand? A: No. The special retirement supplement is designed to bridge the gap between the point when you start receiving it and age 62 when you are first eligible for a Social Security benefit. The SRS is paid out of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, not from the Social Security Trust Fund.