Q. I currently have a total of 18 years active-duty and guard service. In 2002 I started working for DoD. The seven years I have for active duty has counted toward my leave and I’m currently buying back my time to count toward retirement. My question is, since I am buying back that seven years to count toward retirement in civil service, will it still account towards a retirement with the Air National Guard? If yes, will there be some kind of penalty once I start collecting the military retirement? A. Making a deposit to get credit for your active-duty…
Q. I was hired Aug. 15, 1983 ,and was placed in CSRS and have been in CSRS ever since. I now hear that employees that had less than five years in CSRS before Jan. 1, 1984, were supposed to have been converted to FERS. Am I in the wrong system? A. No, you’re in the right retirement system. The five-year rule only applies to retirement coverage determinations made after January 1, 1987, when an employee was covered by CSRS and Social Security. If such an employee didn’t have five years of CSRS coverage on Dec. 31, 1986, he would have…
Q. I work for the United States Postal Service; at my agency we do not receive locality pay. If I decided to leave USPS to go to another government agency that offers locality pay, how would that be incorporated into my current base pay? The way I think it works would be you take my current base pay and add locality pay on top of that. Am I correct? A. Since the Postal Service pay system is completely different from the GS or wage systems, there’s no direct correspondence between their grades and yours. In effect, you would receive the salary…
Q. I was employed by the Defense Department from 1961-1966 and then by the NSA from 1966-1975. I took a lump-sum payout of the retirement benefit at that time. I am now 67 years old. Is there any option to buy back into the system? A. You would only be able to do that if you went back to work for the federal government.
Q. I’m in a LEO job 26 years, 51 years old. (started when I was 25). If I retire now, I’m entitled to the supplement (provided by OPM, not Social Security), yet it is computed on my 26 years of federal service divided by 40. My question is what happens to my five years of Social Security service prior to my 26 more years of SSA service? A. The special retirement supplement is designed to approximates the Social Security benefit you earned while employed under FERS and is paid out of the civil service retirement fund. While non-FERS Social Security-covered…
Q. I served in the Navy back in the middle 1990’s for four years. I am now a federal employee for about 1.5 years and might be leaving the federal government. If I request to have my military service time be credited into FERS, I would have to pay a small amount of money since my salary during those years averaged around $12,000 per year. I want to know is it worth trying to have my service time credited into FERS and leave with 5.5 years in the FERS system? My salary now is a GS-14 level, so would that…
Q. I am on federal disability from the U.S. Postal Service since 2001, I am currently on Social Security disability and reaching 62. I plan on applying for regular Social Security at age 65. I know my federal disability is recalculated to regular retire at 62, but since I am still disabled and receiving Social Security disability, will my FEHB continue until age 65 or will they stop it at 62? A. Your FEHB coverage will continue without a break.
Q. I am in the CSRS system with 34 years in federal service and I am over 55 years of age. I have an excess of 240 hours of annual leave. I am thinking of retiring Jan. 1, 2 or 3 of 2011. If I retire on Jan 1, 2011, which is the end of the leave period and is on a Saturday, I would receive my excess leave in addition to the 240 hrs. If I retire on Jan 2 or 3, will I lose the excess leave? A. Yes
Q. I had interviewed for a competitive Civil Service position in another agency. If I were selected, could I transfer my 25 years of excepted Civil Service (including accrued leave) into that position? Both my current and prospective positions are GS-6. A. As a rule, the answer is yes. However, if you are offered a position in another agency, you should check with them to be sure it’s true in your case before accepting the position.
Q. I will soon be accepting a GS position. I was told that since I am “retired” military, no credit will be given to my leave accrual. I have a total of 26 years, about half each as active duty and the remaining served as a Navy reservist. I will not be getting any retirement pay until age 60, seven years from now. It does not seem fair to have served 12-plus active-duty years plus served the additional years to be retirement-eligible and not be given this credit in comparison to some others that served for three years but did…