Q: I’m under the Civil Service Retirement System plan. I would like to know if the retirement contributions, taken out of our checks every payday, have anything to do with the amount of money we will receive when we retire, or is it based on our high-3 and the number of years we have in, including military time? A: CSRS and Federal Employees Retirement System annuities are defined benefit plans. As such, they are not based on the amount employees and agencies contribute to the retirement fund. Instead, they are based on formulas that include a multiplier (or multipliers), the…
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Q: I have a friend who retired from the Civil Service Retirement System in 2002 and was divorced at the time. His ex-wife will not receive a survivor annuity per his divorce decree. He is going to get remarried this summer and will elect full survivor annuity for his new wife. He knows his monthly annuity will be reduced but he is curious to know if the reduction would be the same as if he had been married all these years, or will there be an additional amount deducted to make up for the years since he retired? I hope…
Q: When I retire, I will have 2,203 hours of sick leave. I am under Civil Service Retirement System Offset. I believe 2,087 hours is the equivalent of one year of service when I retire. So when I retire at age 58, — at 30 years, 6 months of service — I will get an extra year added to my time, so I will have 31 years, 6 months of service that will apply for purposes of calculating my retirement annuity. Is this correct? My husband works a nine-hour schedule that gives him one day off every week. Does the…
Q: Did I overpay to get credit for my military service? According to a Government Executive newsletter article (Jan. 15, 2010, issue), Federal Employees Retirement System employees were supposed to pay 3 percent of the base pay they earned during military service in order to get retirement credit for that service, while Civil Service Retirement System employees were to pay 7 percent. I paid at the 7 percent rate in 2002 although I was a FERS employee at the time. Specifically, although I began as a federal employee under CSRS in 1976 after my military service, I voluntarily switched to…
Q: I plan on retiring on Jan. 1, 2011. I am eligible to retire on Oct. 1, 2010. I am a Civil Service Retirement System Offset employee. I will have 30 years, 3 months of civil service and will be 60 years, 3 months of age. I have 240 hours of use-or-lose annual leave, and I will also have gained another 200 hours for the year. If I retire on Jan. 1, 2011, can I receive payment for my unused annual leave? I believe by doing this, I will receive a large lump sum payment and won’t be taxed until…
Q: I am a federal employee under the Civil Service Retirement System. My wife was a Federal Employees Retirement System employee who left the government after 10 years (1985 to 1995). Is she eligible for a pension, and, if so, at what age? Should I leave her contributions in the retirement system or withdraw them? A: Because your wife had at least five years of creditable service and left her contributions in the retirement fund, she will be eligible for a deferred annuity at age 62. That annuity will be based on her length of service and her highest three…
Q: Is there a cap on how much sick leave can be applied to calculating a pension? Is there a 2,087-hour limit? A: No, there isn’t any cap on how many hours of unused sick leave can be applied when calculating an annuity. However, for the time being, Federal Employees Retirement System employees will only get credit for one-half of their total hours, while Civil Service Retirement System employees will continue to get full credit.
Q. I am considering retirement from the Postal Service after 35 years (includes military time) and am would like to become a TSA agent. Would I be able to collect my CSRS pension and work FERS if hired? A. You’d need to check with the Transportation Security Administration to confirm that you would be able to receive both, without a reduction in either.
Q. I retired from DoD in 2007 under Civil Service Retirement System at age 56 with 31 years of service. In 2008, I went back to work for DoD as a part-time employee working 16 hours per week (832 hours per year). I was hired to fulfill functions critical to the mission of my agency. My SF 50 lists me as a permanent employee and my Annuitant Indicator is CS-No Reduction. My question is: Assuming my employer wants me to continue working, how long can I work on my current part-time job? I have read that an appointment cannot last…
It’s not too late to retire in 2009, and it’s not too soon to at least begin planning to retire in 2010 or 2011. For this year and the next two years, the calendar is working in favor of many of you. Let me explain. As my regular readers know, my position is that there is no one best date to retire. However, each of you can pick the best one for you if you know how. First, you must figure out if you are ready to retire. To do that, you have to answer three questions: Do you meet…