Q. I am a FERS employee and want to retire at age 56. Do I get my Social Security Supplemental and FERS retirement also? A. Yes, if you have reached your minimum retirement age and have the right number of years of service to retire on an immediate, unreduced annuity. On the other hand, if you are retiring under the MRA+10 provision (minimum retirement age with between 20 and 29 years of service), you wouldn’t be eligible to receive the special retirement supplement.
Q. I am an Air Force civilian serving a three-year tour overseas, I have completed four years of government service as of March 20, 2010 and I am 41 years old. However, I suffered a serious spine injury in March 2009 ,which caused me to be on Leave Without Pay due to a work-related injury beginning in April 2009 to January 2010. Since I have been overseas during my convalescence, my housing allowance was misreported and reduced and my post allowance was eliminated. My personnel office calls this an “government incentive for employees to return to work.” Because I was…
Q. I worked as a postal clerk from February 1970 to June 1975. I came back and have been a letter carrier since July 1985. I served in the military from February 1966 to December 1968. What’s the story on “buying back the time?” I’m still an active carrier and would like to know the effect on my FERS retirement and on my Social Security. A. To get credit for that period of active-duty service, you’d need to make a deposit to the civilian retirement system. The amount would be a small percentage of your military base pay plus accrued…
Q. I retired in 1999 under an early-out program and want to return to work full time. How will my current retirement payment be affected? A. As a rule, the salary of your new position would be reduced by the amount of your annuity. For example, if your annuity was $25,000 and the salary of your new position was $75,000, you would only be paid $50,000 ($75,000-$25,000).
Q. I will be retiring in February 2011 at 58 from CSRS as a GS-15 with 30 years of service. My wife is on Social Security Disability and will be 64. She currently has Medicare Part A but not Part B. We have Federal Blue Cross Blue Shield standard and also have long-term care insurance. When she went on disability, Blue Cross indicated that it would be the primary payer and Medicare secondary but that it would switch after I retired, with Medicare the primary for her. In researching the OPM Web page, it’s my understanding that she cannot be…
Q. I have a question about the CSRS system and the impact of my wife’s Social Security. I will be retiring in January 2011 with 40-plus years of federal government experience. I don’t have enough quarters to qualify for Social Security. My only Social Security quarters are from when I worked summer jobs back when I was in college before 1970. My wife will be applying for a reduced Social Security benefit when she turns 62 this July. Will her benefit be affected by my CSRS annuity or vice versa? A. Neither her Social Security benefit nor your CSRS annuity…
Q. I have been a federal employee for over seven years and I worked for the Transportation Security Administration. I currently work for the U.S. Capitol Police; will my sick leave balance transfer from TSA to USCP? A. It should; however, check with your new personnel office to make sure that that it has.
Q. I retired at age 55 in 2005 under the FERS system. I had switched from civil service to FERS back in 1997, so a portion of my postal pension is that FERS supplement until I reach age 62. However, subsequent to my retirement I am 100 percent disabled and receive Social Security Disability. My question now is, when I reach age 62, my FERS supplement will cease and I will not get any increase in my pension, since I am already getting disability. Is this true? Will my postal pension under the civil service portion increase any after reaching…
Q. At age 55, with 24 years and four month’s service under FERS, I accepted the U.S. Postal Service offer of Voluntary Early Retirement, effective Aug. 1, 2009, because of my eligibility to start receiving my OPM Special Retirement Supplement (SRS) upon reaching the minimum retirement age (MRA) in July 2010. Since retiring nine months ago I have received no information about my SRS from the USPS or OPM. In all of the vast amount of available information on the SRS, I have found no instructions on if, how to or to whom I must apply for it. Since I…
Q. If retiring under FERS under the age of 62, is one obligated to take the Special Retirement Supplement if you anticipate having another nongovernment job that will earn a relatively high salary? A. The Special Retirement Supplement is automatically added on to an earned annuity. I’m not aware of any way you could decline to receive it, not that I can think of any reason why you’d want to do so. All that happens if you exceed the Social Security earnings limit is that your SRS is reduced by $1 for every $2 you earn above the limit.