Q. What are the conditions that govern federal employment after CSRS retirement? I am planning on retiring soon with 32 years and may have an opportunity to work part time for the agency I am currently employed with. (Department of Veterans Affairs). A. Unless you are hired into one of those rare positions that would allow you to receive both your annuity and the full salary of your new job, the salary of that job would be offset by the amount of your annuity. For example, if your annuity was $50,000 and the salary of your new job was $80,000,…
Q. I want to retire at the age of 55. At this time I will have 35-plus years in with the U.S. Postal Service. Will I be able to receive monthly annuity checks from TSP without a penalty? I will be 55 years old in 2021 … when should I retire under FERS and not take a huge hit? A. You may want to retire at age 55 but you won’t be able to do that. As a FERS employee who was born in 1966, your minimum retirement age is 56 years and 4 months. Because you would have at…
Q. I am so confused about the deposit for post-1956 military service. I am a widow 53 years old who has been receiving a survivors annuity (CSRS) since my husband’s death in 2006. At the time the annuity was approved, I received a letter from OPM asking me if I wanted to make the deposit and was told that my annuity would be reduced by an estimated $193 monthly at age 60 if I did not make the deposit, and I was found eligible for Social Security benefits. I did not reply as I was totally confused and could not get any answers. I recently sent a letter…
President Obama last year sent a memorandum to agency heads in which he sought to ensure that agencies provide employees with the broadest possible support in balancing work, personal and family obligations. In response, the Office of Personnel Management issued draft regulations for comment. Final regulations, effective July 14, broaden the definition of family members and immediate relatives for purposes of sick leave, funeral leave, voluntary leave transfer, voluntary leave bank and emergency leave transfer. The modifications were made to Part 630, on absence and leave, of the Code of Federal Regulations. Section 630.201 defines a family member as an individual with…
Q: I am a FERS TRANSFER and I will be retiring with 30 years with CSRS and 13 years with FERS. If my husband’s SSI spousal portion is higher than my full SSI, can I take the full spousal portion or is it subject to windfall elimination provision, too? A: Because you will be receiving an annuity — in whole or part — from a retirement system where you didn’t pay Social Security taxes (CSRS), any spousal Social Security benefit to which you would otherwise be entitled would be affected by the government pension offset provision of law. The GPO…
Q: I’m a FERS employee. If I retire at my minimum retirement age of 56, with 20 years in, will the retirement supplement begin four years later when I turn 60? Or does it begin at my minimum retirement age of 56? Or am I ineligible to receive it if I don’t take it immediately on retirement? A: You would be retiring under the MRA+10 provision. First, no one retiring under that provision is eligible for the special retirement supplement. Second, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year (5/12 percent per month) that you were under…
Q: I have heard that if you work for 10 years in the legislative branch, then all your time in the executive branch converts to legislative branch time, for the sake of the multipliers under the CSRS retirement. Is this true? I am a FERS employee in the legislative branch with 10+ years of executive branch service. If the above is true, is it also applicable to FERS employees? A: CSRS legislative branch employees contribute an additional 1 percent to the retirement system. If they have five years of legislative branch service under their belts when they retire, their annuity…
Q: You answered the question below in a previous post. Can you give me the legal statute/instruction that states this so I can let my human resources department know? They are trying to tell me that my military service won’t count toward leave accrual time and I am in almost this exact situation as below. I am starting a general service job soon, but am getting some conflicting messages about how much leave I will accrue. I am a member of the U.S. Army Retired Reserve with about 14 years of active duty time. I will not receive military retired…
Q: If Congress passes the part-time employee equity act this fall, how would this impact a CSRS Offset employee with the last 20 years of service as a part-time employee? Would it make a substantial difference in the retirement benefit calculation to wait until this act passes before retiring? A: Where have you been? As of Oct. 28, 2009, Public Law 111-84 changed the way CSRS part-time employment would be calculated. To learn how that change would affect you, go to www.federaltimes.com. At my site, click on “read more.” Under Retirement, click on CSRS annuity computation, then continue to scroll…
Q: I work for the Postal Service and have four years of creditable military service. I started work after Oct. 1, 1982. If I pay my deposit and make monthly payments on my interest but do not pay back all the interest owed by my retirement date, will my credit (military service) be adjusted? How is it calculated? A: If you don’t complete your deposit, including accrued interest, by the date your retirement application is adjudicated by OPM, you won’t get any credit for that service. Instead, the money you did deposit will be returned to you.