Q. I am contemplating retiring this year with 30 years in FERS. I was under CSRS when I started in 1970 and left in 1974 to start my family. I was reinstated into the federal government in March 1987, with a new service computation date of 1983 and four years in CSRS. When I returned, I was automatically placed into FERS. Now that my retirement is drawing closer and I have been to Social Security, they are telling me that they will take two-thirds of my Social Security benefits, listed as CSRS Offset. I have done some research and see…
Browsing: creditable service
Q. I am looking into my retirement options. I have 28 years as a FERS employee. I was also in VISTA from 1978 to 1979. I would like to know what I need to do for that year to be counted as creditable service. I have spent the last two years trying to get this information from my human resources department and other retirement counselors. Everyone is familiar with buying back military time, but no one appears to know the specifics for VISTA. Can you help? A. That’s shameful. All those folks needed to do was consult the Office of…
Q. I ran out of sick leave after cancer treatment in 2008-09. I had two months leave without pay in 2008 and three months LWOP in 2009. Will this time be deducted from my total years of service when I retire this year? A. No, they won’t.
Q. I am a FERS employee considering buying back my service time. I retired after 23 years in the Army. I’m 49 years old and have five years of federal time as of 2013. Would it be in my best interest to buy back my military time and put it toward federal retirement? What would be the impact? A. Here’s the upside. If you make a deposit to get credit for your active-duty service, you’d have 28 years of creditable service. If you retired at your minimum retirement age (56), you’d have 35 years of service and your annuity would…
Q. I recently read that beginning Jan. 1, 2013, all new federal employees will be covered under FERS-Revised Annuity Employee, which basically means they will have to pay an additional 2.3 percent into FERS. However, per the Office of Personnel Management memo, “There are three exceptions to this general rule and the date Dec. 31, 2012, is a key date for each of those exceptions. An individual will be excluded from FERS-RAE coverage if any of these exceptions apply: 1. The individual on Dec. 31, 2012, was covered under FERS; OR 2. The individual on Dec. 31, 2012, was performing…
Q. I have been on FERS disability retirement since September 2007. If I am found recovered, does time on FERS disability count toward total service? If so, it will give me 31 years of service. I am 56, which is my minimum retirement age. Can I retire with regular FERS annuity? A. No, you can’t. Time spent on disability retirement isn’t considered to be creditable service for any purpose.
Q. Under the Family Medical Leave Act, an employee can be granted up to 12 weeks or 480 hours of leave without pay. I understand that LWOP of up to six months counts as creditable service for the service computation date. Anything over six months requires an adjustment. Is there a maximum number of hours that constitutes six months under the FMLA? If you take LWOP several days a pay period, and not consecutively, how do you determine the LWOP time? A. For the full story on LWOP and its affect on benefits, go to www.opm.gov/oca/leave/html/LWOP_eff.asp.
Q. I was informed that unscheduled hours that were/are worked while being a part-time employee are creditable toward years of service. I am a CSRS employee. I began my service as a full-time nurse in 1983. I changed my status to part time in 1995. I returned to full-time status in 2011. From 1995 to 2011, I worked many unscheduled hours. How are unscheduled hours computed toward my creditable service time? A. Only hours of work from which retirement deductions were taken are creditable for retirement purposes. You’ll have to check with your personnel office to see if they can…
Q. I have 20 years of FERS law enforcement coverage, with approximately four years in nonlaw enforcement coverage. I am only 51. We don’t get administrative overtime, so if I could find a nonlaw enforcement position that paid the same grade, that would be nice. If I obtain such a position, what happens to my 20 years of law enforcement coverage? It is safe, right? My understanding is that my basic annuity is calculated at 1.7 percent of my high-3 times 20 plus 1 percent of my high-3 average times years of additional creditable service. Further, my understanding of the…
Q. I have a civilian job offer for a GS-12 position with the Department of the Navy. This would be my first government job. They offered me a Step 3 salary plus “seven years of credit for determining leave accrual.” I understand this credit for leave accrual would put me at 20 days of paid time off per year, but does it add to any retirement benefits in FERS for “credit” of years of service? A. No.