Q. I am a FERS employee with 30-plus years of federal service looking to retire as soon as possible after turning 62. I will turn 62 on Jan. 28, 2015. What date is best to retire shortly after my 62nd birthday — the end of the pay period that includes Jan. 28 or some other day? A. There is no best date to retire. There are only a few tips that, once you consider them, can lead you to the date that seems best for you. First, because you are a FERS employee, you’ll want to retire as close to…
Browsing: annual leave
Q. OPM’s Standard Form 71 (Request for Leave or Approved Absence) contains options for Advanced Annual/Sick Leave in addition to Accrued Annual/Sick Leave, Leave Without Pay (LWOP), etc. Due to personal circumstances, I asked my immediate supervisor for both Advanced Leave and LWOP, and he said that he while he could grant LWOP, he would not be able to grant Advanced Leave because his upper management discourages it. Can my agency legally exclude Advanced Leave as one of my leave options? A. Yes. You’re not entitled to advanced annual leave. In making a decision, your agency may consider such factors…
Q. I have more than eight years of active-duty service, and I have just obtained my first federal government job. Where can I go to find out how much annual leave I’ll be entitled to? A. Go to www.opm.gov/StaffingPortal/vetguide.asp#ServiceCredit-Leave Accrual Rate.
Q. I am a CSRS employee who plans to retire this year. I will have a large annual leave buyback, so I want to leave before the end of the 2013 leave year. I read one article that advised to retire Dec. 28 (the start of new pay period) and others that relay Jan. 3, 2014. While I understand that the 3rd is the max to stay and get a retirement check the following month, i.e., February, am I correct that if you retire Dec. 28, you miss out on two full days of pay, i.e., the 30th and 31st?…
Q. I am a FERS employee who has 846 hours of sick leave as of Feb. 13. I will be 69 years old in June and have 24 years (including military time) at the Veterans Affairs Department. I would like to retire next January. I am a GS5-8. Is January the best time to retire? A. The best day to retire is the one that fits your physical, emotional and financial needs. In general, it ought to be at the end of a pay period, so you can get credit for any annual and sick leave you earned during those…
Q. I work for a Veterans Affairs hospital under CSRS Offset. I was employed at the Postal Service from 1980 to 2001. I was reinstated at VA in 2008. I work Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. I am a GS-5. I have 178 hours of annual leave and 1,027 hours of sick leave. My service computation date is Feb. 12, 1987. I am eligible to retire on my 60th birthday, which is March 28. I have planned a European vacation from March 21 to April 9. I want to take annual leave March 21-29. I have annual…
Q. I submitted annual leave requests via email to my supervisor on Nov. 18. That was before the start of the “third biweekly pay period prior to the end of the leave year 2012”. The 2012 leave year ended Jan. 12. My supervisor denied all of my annual leave requests with remarks “request made too late” and did not initiate any action to reschedule annual leave that was denied me. As a result, I lost 94.5 hours over-ceiling annual leave. Does this situation qualify as an administrative error”? A. Here’s what the Office of Personnel Management has to say on…
Q. I’m planning on retiring at the end of the year. I’m not sure if I should retire Dec. 31, a Tuesday, which would be the first week of pay period #2, or wait until Jan. 11, the end of pay period #2. I will have 42 years, four months and five days of service as of Dec. 31. A. The difference is simple. If you retired Dec. 31, you’d receive one extra day of pay and be on the annuity roll in January. If you retired Jan. 11, 2014, you’d earn an additional two weeks pay, plus any annual…
Q. I am 55 years old and am looking to retire Dec. 31. I am in under CSRS and have 35 years as a federal firefighter. As of the end of 2012, I had accrued 600 hours of annual leave. I plan on saving my annual leave for this year and want to make sure that I will get paid in a lump sum for my accrued hours when I retire. Is this possible? A. As a rule, federal employees working in the U.S. may carry over no more than 30 days (240 hours) from one leave year to the…
Q. I am a CSRS employee, and I already qualify for an immediate retirement. I plan to retire on May 3 at 4:30 p.m. On the retirement application (SF 2801) under Section B, block 2 is called “date of final separation.” I entered May 3 because it is at the end of a pay period. Will I receive eight hours of annual leave since my last work day is at the end of the pay period. Will my first retirement check come on June 1 since I retired during one of the first three days of a month? A. If…