Q: I read post on credit for military service with great interest. As a former Peace Corps volunteer, what is the current status of that service relative to my current Federal service. A: If you are covered by CSRS and your Peace Corps or VISTA service was performed before October 1, 1982, you’ll receive credit for that time (excluding training time) for both eligibility and annuity purposes. Whether you make a deposit for that time is optional. However, if it isn’t paid, your annuity would be reduced by 10 percent of the amount due, including accrued interest. On the other…
Q: I retired from the Foreign Service in 1995 after 27 years of service. Prior to that, I worked for 15 years as a merchant mariner, as a miner, and in the Navy. I paid into Social Security during all of this time. My Foreign Service pension derived from the “old” Foreign Service Disability and Retirement System (FSDRS). Why is it that my Social Security benefit was reduced by two-thirds, when my covered private sector and Navy employment had no relationship with my later career as a Foreign Service Officer? A: The law is clear. Anyone who receives a pension…
Q: I learned in 2008 that my disability retirement annuity is wrong because my Preliminary and Final SF 2806 forms were prepared by a state-funded agency rather than my former employer. I was an Army Department employee. I have provided extensive evidence to OPM, however, they have refused to correct my annuity or explain why a state-funded agency prepared my separation documents, why they don’t match the personnel action forms prepared by my former employer, and why my last day in pay status was provided to OPM by the state-funded agency two months after I was separated. I have been…
Q: I spent two years (2004-2006) working for the Veterans Administration at a work-study position in Buffalo, N.Y. Does this time count toward FERS retirement eligibility and annuity computation purposes? A: Not to my knowledge. However, I suggest that you raise this question with your local personnel office, which, if necessary, can check with OPM.
Is military service creditable for civilian retirement purposes? Both current employees and military members who are considering working for the federal government e-mail me looking for answers to that question. Creditable military service is: * Active duty in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard; after June 30, 1960, in the Public Health Service commissioned corps; or, after June 30, 1961, in the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration commissioned corps. * Time as a cadet in the Army, Air Force or Coast Guard academies or as a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy. * Active duty or…
Q: I have an appointment letter with specific dates listed for a qualifying nonappropriated-funds employment from the U.S. Army at the Army Youth Activities camp in 1964. I have confirming information from microfiche records that have been officially certified that list the same employer (U.S. Army AYA Camp) for the same quarter as the specific dates listed in the appointment letter, and at the same pay specified in that letter. What else is required by regulation for verifying this service? These two documents taken together seem sufficient. A: The only requirement is that you provide convincing evidence that you performed…
Q: I am a Civil Service Retirement System optionally retired rehired annuitant. Because I am under CSRS for retirement, is my salary as a rehired annuitant subject to Social Security withholding? A: As a pure CSRS rehire, you aren’t subject to Social Security deductions unless you were hired as a senior official. If you were, you’d be covered by CSRS Offset, and Social Security deductions would be mandatory.
Q: My father retired from federal civil service in 1974. At that time, he elected a survivor annuity for my mother with a base of $1,300. Initially, the Office of Personnel Management took out about $175 a month from his annuity for the survivor annuity, and of course this went up annually via cost-of-living adjustments, the same way his regular annuity did. He passed away in 2009. The OPM has calculated the survivor annuity for my mother, and she is receiving $789 a month net, reduced by $153 for insurance, which leaves $636 a month. Over the 35 years of…
Q: The 2011 open-enrollment season will to intoduce a voluntary sub-option for annuitants who receive Medicare Part B. Can you give me an update on this Office of Personnel Management proposal? Will all the participatng plans offer this, especially Blue Cross/Blue Shield? A: On April 7, OPM issued its annual call letter to plans participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program. In the letter, it encouraged them to propose “pilot programs wherein participating carriers offer a sub-option for Medicare-eligible annuitants as an alternate choice within their existing option(s). The sub-option may include premium pass-through accounts to be used solely…
Q: My question is about how or if the years served at a service academy (the Air Force Academy, in my case) may be credited as years of active-duty service upon active-duty retirement. I understand that those years may be “bought back” if I am counting those years toward a civilian federal retirement under the Federal Employees Retirement System, but what about active-duty military retirement? May those years be bought back? A: A deposit into the civilian retirement system may be made to get credit for time spent at one of the military academies. Similarly, a deposit may be made…