Q. I worked as a GS clinical nurse from Sept. 12, 1999, to Sept. 24, 2005 — a total of six years. On May 10, 2010, I returned to federal service as a GS clinical nurse. My service computation date was determined to be Feb. 8, 2008. How was this date arrived at? I previously worked from February 1991 to January 1996 as a GS worker and foolishly took my retirement monies out. I know I have lost that time. But that should not cause me to lose three years of service time, should it? A. Unless you re-deposit the…
Browsing: break in service
Q. I am a retired airman who served from Aug. 9, 1978, to Sept. 1, 1998. I entered federal service at Defense Finance and Accounting Services on April 12, 1999, serving until Aug. 31, 2007 — eight years, four months and 19 days. We had a reduction in force and closed Aug. 31, 2007. I had a break in service until July 20, 2008. when I started at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where I still work. My old service computation date was April 12, 1999. What should my new SCD be with that 10-month, 19-day break? A. Your new…
Q. I was hired by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 1994 and resigned in 2000 to relocate across the country. Four months later, I found a new position and have been continuously employed with the federal government since. My position in the U.S. Senate will expire at the end of the year (the senator I work for is retiring). If it takes, hypothetically, two or three months after that to find another federal position, what will that break in service do to my retirement benefits/years in service? And what about the first break in service of four months back in…
Q. For a high-3 calculation, do the three consecutive years have to be continuous? I’m a Civil Service Retirement System Offset employee who was reinstated in March 2011 after an 18-year break in service but would be eligible to retire at age 60 in about 14 months. Would my high-3 be the two years since my return to federal service and then my last from 18 years ago? A. The three years have to be consecutive, but they don’t have to be continuous. Therefore, assuming that the current salary is higher than the one you had when you left government,…
Q. I had 22 years of service when I resigned from the government in July 2010 at age 55. I am under the Civil Service Retirement System. I worked for Department of Agriculture from 1972 to 1978 and returned from 1994 to 2010. I would like to know when I can get some of my retirement monthly. A. Assuming that you didn’t take a refund of your retirement contributions, you can apply for a deferred annuity at age 62.
Q: Can my time as a nonappropriated fund employee be used toward retirement now that I work in a GS position? I worked twice as a NAF employee with a break in service, and I have been trying to get credit for that time. I received an e-mail today saying that because there was a service break of more than three days, my time will not count. A: Your agency is correct. Your NAF time isn’t creditable if you had a break in service of more than three calendar days.
Q: My wife is a government employee who was reinstated from former government service (she resigned in 1993). She entered government service in 1980 and was under the old retirement service. She resigned to have a child in 1984 and withdrew her retirement. She was reinstated in 1986 and came under the new retirement system. She again resigned and was reinstated in 2009. She has more than 13 years of government service. Can she pay back the retirement she received plus contributions she would have made over the years to fall back into the old retirement system? A: She may…