Q: I am under the Federal Employees Retirement System and have 25 1/2 years of federal service. Early in my career, I had a few years of part-time employment. What is the formula to figure how this impacts my annuity? A FERS Benefit Estimate Report from the Office of Personnel Managment listed a FERS part-time proration factor of 92 percent at age 50 with 23 1/2 years of service and 94 percent at age 56 1/2 with 30 years of service. I am assuming this means my annuity will be reduced by 6 percent at 30 years of service. If…
Q: I am interested in taking a state government job in New York. I retired from the federal government at age 50 and am now 57. Will working for a state government change my federal retirement benefits in any way? A: No, it won’t.
Q: If I were fired from my Federal Employees Retirement System-covered position, would it affect my future retirement annuity and benefits, assuming that I have enough years of service to retire? A: As a rule, when you have the right combination of age and service, you would be entitled to apply for and receive any retirement benefits you have earned. If you retired before being eligible to retire, the age and service requirement would be different than if you were already eligible. Note: if you were convicted of any of the offenses listed in 5 U.S. Code Chapter 83, Subchapter…
Q: I am 65 years old and will have 30 years with the federal government as of January 2012. I previously worked for 15 years in the private sector and am covered by Social Security. I will be 66 in January 2011 and have been told that I can draw my full Social Security benefit while I am still working. Is this true? Besides taxes, is there a downside to drawing your Social Security while you are still working? A: There is no limit to the amount you may earn after you reach your full retirement age. The only downside…
Q: I left federal civil service in 1982 after 17 1/2 years of service, and I am considering returning on a part-time (50 percent) basis. I had more than seven months of unused sick leave when I left; will I get the unused sick leave reinstated? What amount of sick leave will I earn? At what rate will I earn annual leave? Also, I was under the Civil Service Retirement System when I left. If I return to civil service, will I go back under CSRS, would I go under the Federal Employees Retirement System, or would I have a…
Q: I will have been in federal law enforcement for 25 years as of April 2011. I will be 46 years old at that point. In my first 15 years of service, I was in a covered law enforcement position. The next two years, I was in a law enforcement position that was not covered. In last seven years, I again have been in a covered position. Will I be eligible to retire in 2011 at the age of 46, or do I have to add the two years I was in the uncovered position onto the 25 years? A:…
Q: I am covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System’s law enforcement retirement plan. I have 11 years in as a law enforcement officer plus three years of federal service as a non-LEO. I am 48 and am considering retirement to go back to school. I may return to federal service at some point, but not as an LEO. I would be retiring without having 20 years of service or reaching my mandatory retirement age of 57. I know there are benefits to retiring as opposed to resigning (especially as an LEO), but what are the major pension pros and…
Q: When talking about “Catch-62,” you have written: “[If a Civil Service Retirement System employee] was eligible for a Social Security benefit either at age 62 or at retirement, if it was after reaching age 62, those years of service would be deducted and his annuity recomputed downward.” What is the situation for CSRS employees after age 62 if they qualify for Social Security with work after retirement? A: There’s no problem at all. For those who are coming upon this subject for the first time, I’d better explain what we’re talking about: Anyone who served in the military after…
Q: Can a surviving spouse receive more than one survivor annuity? For example, if a man receives a survivor annuity from his deceased wife, who was a federal employee, then marries another government employee after he turns 55, could he possibly collect a second survivor annuity? A: Generally, a surviving spouse can receive more than one survivor annuity based on the service of more that one employee. However, that can’t happen if the marriage occurred after the employee retired, or if the survivor annuity was reinstated after the surviving spouse remarried before age 55. In either of the latter cases,…
Q: I am a Federal Employees Retirement System employee with the U.S. Postal Service. I have been with the USPS for 26 years and want to retire now at age 58 (Minimum Retirement Age +10). I know that my annuity would be reduced by 5 percent per year for each year under 62 (20 percent overall) if I collect it now. I know if I delayed retirement until age 60, I’d get an unreduced annuity. But if I delayed my annuity until age 60 (while still retiring at age 58), would I get a full annuity, or would it be…