Q. In 1985-87, I worked for the railroad and I was paying into FERS. I left without being vested in the system. Now I have completed five years in FERS. Am I able to buy the railroad retirement time of two years and apply it to my FERS? I called the railroad retirement system and they said the federal money I contributed was sent to Social Security. A. Unfortunately, no.
Browsing: buyback
Q. A former federal employee was making his buyback through payroll deduction and still owed approximately $2,500. He was suspended indefinitely and, after several years, resigned. He was never given an opportunity to pay the lump sum to max his buyback. He was led to believe it would be taken out of his unused leave. Will he still be able to pay a lump sum or at least get credit for the amount he already contributed? A. He will neither be able to pay a lump sum to complete the deposit nor get credit for the amount he already put…
Q. I have 15 years on active duty and am working toward a FERS retirement. I received a severance payment. Do I have to buy back the active-duty time or the severance pay to count the time on my present federal retirement? A. You would only have to make a deposit to the civilian retirement system to get credit for your active duty service. The severance payment is yours to keep.
Q. I am a GS employee that is also a member of the Air Guard. I will be leaving on leave without pay to go through military training for roughly five to six months. How will this affect my FERS retirement and my Thrift Savings Plan contributions? Do I have to buy back my military retirement to obtain my FERS retirement contributions during my LWOP? A. Reg Jones: You will be on LWOP-US. Therefore, you will have to make a deposit to the retirement system to get credit for that period of active-duty service. Mike Miles: You may not contribute…
Q. I was hired in 1985 as rural carrier relief, then converted to rural carrier associate. I became full time in January 1995. I was allowed to buy back time for 1985-89. Do I receive full credit for four years toward retirement? How is the time from 1985-89 counted? A. You’ll find the method used to compute an annuity that includes part-time service at www.opm.gov/pubs/handbook/C055.pdf.
Q. I am working for the Veterans Affairs Department hospital. I served six years of service with the active-duty Navy, in which I was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and was honorably discharged with an RE1 enlistment code after the Navy. I served 14 years Active Guard Reserve with the Army National Guard. I do not wish to sell my time back, but I want to know why my active-duty time with the Navy does not count toward my time for leave or vacation when there are fellow workers who have less time (3-4 years) that do. A. It…
Q. Can early-out money be used to pay back refunded money? Since the Office of Personnel Management sends you the option either to buy time back or not, you would have the early-out money in hand. A. Yes, you can redeposit the amount you owe prior to the final adjudications of your claim by OPM.
Q. I am on active duty under Title 10 for a 225-day involuntary recall deployment. I am also a 15-year federal employee. Upon coming into the federal position in 2003, I bought back my four years of active-duty time, which has been applied to my FERS position. I would now like to have the deployment days added onto my federal career. I am on leave without pay. However, I am receiving differential of pay. Would I be authorized to have the deployment time calculated to my federal position? I was also informed that I would receive no evaluation or SF-50…
Q. I took my retirement money out in 1990. Can I use Voluntary Separation Incentive Pay money to pay that back? The Office of Personnel Management told me I would have the opportunity to buy back refunded money or time before final annuity payments were calculated, but I worried that if I retired, they would not count that time into my annuity before I had time to pay it back. A. What OPM told you is correct. And, since you will have your VSIP long before your annuity is finalized, you’ll be able to make the redeposit with time to…
Q. I was on active duty from September 1999 to September 2008. I was honorably discharged with 30 percent service connected disability. I became a civil service employee in December 2010 in a permanent position. I was in this position for 18 months and then transferred to a term position. It was a permanent position but switched to term when the person in it left. I was told that I could not be brought in as permanent because I hadn’t reached ‘career status’ yet, which they stated was three years as a civil service employee. I was told that had I been…