Q: How is an annual leave buyout calculated? Is it “accumulated hours x current hourly wage”? Is this considered unearned income? I have also heard they take 40 percent in taxes for this. A: Lump sum annual leave payments are calculated using the hourly rate of basic pay you would have received had you remained on the agency’s rolls. Therefore, if you were to retire before the annual pay adjustment becomes effective, any hours before that will be computed at the old rate and those after on the new rate. Any step increase that would have occurred after you retired…
Q: I am 70 years old. I was in the military for three years, from 1981 to 1984, then worked 2.5 years for the Army as a civilian. In 2009, I worked for a VA hospital for 16 months. While at the VA hospital, I bought in my military time. Do I have enough time to draw any retirement? Or, how much additional time would I need in the federal system? A: If you had at least 20 years of service, you would have been eligible for a deferred retirement at age 60; if at least five years of service…
Q: I work in Alaska as an Army civilian police officer. Where I am stationed, we receive specialty pay. For example, I am a GS 08 about to move up to GS 09. My current GS 08 step 4 pay is $54,633. On top of this, we still get cost-of-living allowance here, which for me turns out to be $11,440.15. A normal GS-scale employee as an GS 08 step 4 receives $41,393. Does my specialty pay count toward my Federal Employees Retirement System annuity? In other words, is my retirement based on the $54,633, or is it based on $41,393?…
Q: I have 30-plus years as a federal employee. I worked as a temporary teacher with D.C. public schools, which I understand to be creditable service. How much creditable service is permitted under the Civil Service Retirement System for a teacher who taught for 10 months (academic year) in Defense Department schools or in D.C. public schools? I taught for 10 months and was paid on a 12-month basis. I have read the statutes and regulations and Office of Personnel Management guidance. However, I cannot find anything that pertains to how teacher employment is credited. Surely, OPM has some sort…
Q: I am currently under workers’ comp from the Postal Service. My health insurance is through workers’ comp. My husband is a retired Postal Service employee with MVP family insurance. I would like to disability retire but I need to know that I can be added to my husband’s insurance effective immediately. I have been advised to cancel my workers’ comp health insurance first, then I can be picked up on his. This is very risky. Please advise. A: If your husband is enrolled in the self and family option of his Federal Employees Health Benefits plan, you are already…
Q: I spent almost 11 years as a New York City police officer. I then became and am still an FBI special agent (1811). My question is, can my NYC government service time count toward my federal service time? A: No, your city government service can’t be combined with your federal government service.
Q: I am not retired yet, but I’d like to know how I will calculate what the additional benefit will be to my retirement income if I were to repay my military service deposit? In other words, from an expected retirement income perspective, how do I determine if it’s in my best financial interest to repay my military service deposit? A: Here’s the simple answer. If you are a Civil Service Retirement System employee, each additional year of service would produce approximately 2 percent increase in your annuity. If you are a Federal Employees Retirement System employee, it would produce…
Q: Will federal retirees who pay Medicare through their federal pension because they have insufficient Social Security quarters ever receive a refund and correction for an improper raise in Medicare premiums in 2010? We, too, received no cost-of-living allowances. A: There wasn’t any “improper raise.” What you are referring to is the fact that when there wasn’t any cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits in 2010, an increase in Medicare premiums for Social Security beneficiaries was prohibited under the “hold harmless” provision of that law. On the other hand, there wasn’t any legal restriction to the required increase in premiums…
Q: I have a question on returning back to work part time in a federal job. I retired in February 2004 from the Postal Service. I retired in the Federal Employees Retirement System. I am thinking of returning back to work with the Transportation Security Administration. If I do, will it affect or reduce my annuity and my supplemental allowance? A: Unless you are hired into a position that allows you to keep both your annuity and the full salary of your position, your new salary will be reduced by the amount of your annuity. Check before accepting the job.
Q: I read something in Reg Jones’ column in the Oct. 4 issue of Federal Times that I would like more information about. The district office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in San Francisco, my employer, no longer has a personnel specialist. I was hired by EEOC in February 1993. I retired from the Navy Reserve in 1995, and have just recently begun to draw retired reserve pay at age 60. I plan to retire from EEOC at the end of 2014. I will be 64 years old and have 21 years’ civilian service then. Questions: May I make…