Q. I have a friend who attended the Air Force Academy years ago and later retired as an officer, after which he had civil service employment and subsequent retirement from FERS. He was not informed at the time of his civil service retirement that his academy time could be credited toward his civil service retirement time if he paid the 3 percent. He recently found out about it but when he asked, he was told it had to have been done at the time of civil service retirement. This doesn’t sound right. Surely there is an appeal process. A. What he was…
Browsing: creditable service
Q. I am a Postal Service FERS employee with 24½ years of service. If the USPS offers early retirement with an additional two years of service, will I be eligible to retire with 26½ years of service? Or must an employee actually have 25 years of creditable service prior to being offered retirement? A. How many times do I have to say it? Neither the U.S. Postal Service nor any other agency of government can add years to increase the amount of an employee’s service nor tack them on to increase his age.
Q. My sister is an employee of the District of Columbia government. She’s been there for a few years, and I’ve been urging her to get a position within the federal government. If she were to get a federal job, would her time with the D.C. government count toward her federal service in calculating her leave and retirement dates? Does this apply to any other state government employees? A. Only employees of the District of Columbia government who were hired before Oct. 1, 1987, can get credit for their service if they accept a job with the federal government. Anyone…
Q. I started working for the federal government in September 1982 under CSRS and transferred to FERS in 1987 with just under five years in CSRS. I withdrew my CSRS contributions when I transferred to FERS. I have not had a break in federal service. Does my time working under CSRS count as creditable service for retirement under FERS? I’ve gotten different answers from different sources. A. If you had fewer than five years of employment under CSRS, that time would automatically credited as FERS service and be used both in determining your total years of FERS service and in the…
Q. Can I buy back temp time? I was a temp from Dec. 8, 2008, until March 2010. My service computation date is Dec. 8, 2008. I am not getting ready to retire, but I was told that I could buy back my temp time to change my SCD. Is this true? If so, what do I need to do? A. Since you SCD is set on the date that you began your temp time, you appear to have gotten credit for leave purposes. However, you cannot get credit for that time for retirement purposes. Nondeduction service performed after Jan.…
Q. When I was a child, I worked harvesting fruit for an agricultural research facility at a land-grant university. My father worked there and received CSRS credit so I’m confident that salaried employees received creditable service. I have Social Security records showing my earnings from 1969 to 1975, but I was paid by the amount of fruit harvested, not by the hour. Would this be creditable service and what type of documentation would I need to have? Do you have any suggestions on where such records would be archived? A. I can find nothing suggesting that the time you spent…
Q. Can I buy back temp time? I’m currently a permanent employee and I was a temp for 15 months. I am not getting ready to retire, but; I was told that I could buy back my temp time. Is this true?. A. Unfortunately, you can’t get credit for that time. Under FERS, periods of nondeduction service performed on or after Jan. 1, 1989, aren’t creditable for either length of service or annuity computation purposes.
Q. My Civilian Personnel Activity Center office is questioning whether my service academy time is creditable toward my service computation date based on the fact that my type of separation (dismissal) and character of service (not applicable). My discharge is not honorable or dishonorable, but I didn’t think it mattered for service academy time because I wasn’t commissioned yet. Any documentation to show my CPAC office would be much appreciated. A. Section 1115 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 explicitly made academy time creditable for retirement purposes and should be included when setting that service computation date. Although not…
Q. I am retired from the Coast Guard with 22 years of service. I now work for the Bureau of Prisons in the Department of Justice as GL09. When hired, human resources told me I would get eight hours of leave per pay period, or 26 days per year. I received my first leave statement and it shows only four hours per pay period. HR said it made a mistake and four is all I can get unless I can show I have the Expeditionary Medal, in which case I may get six hours per pay period. What is the…
Q. I am considering rejoining federal service and have a question about whether a prior temporary appointment is creditable service toward retirement. In the summer of 1970, I had a three-month appointment (summer job) at the U.S. Postal Service. Would this time be creditable toward CSRS retirement? A. If you returned to work for the government, you would be covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System, not CSRS. I don’t know if your particular appointment in the Postal Service would be considered to be creditable service. You’d have to check with a benefits specialist in the agency that is considering…