Q. I am 53 years old with 24 years of FERS service and considering either a deferred or postponed retirement option in the next year or two. How does the newly enacted benefit for FERS employees to get service longevity credit for unused accumulated sick leave operate under the postponed or deferred retirement scenarios? I know you get 50 percent credit for longevity purposes for all unused accumulated sick leave for retirements between now and Dec. 31, 2013, and full day-for-day credit for unused accumulated sick leave for longevity credit for retirements on and after Jan. 1, 2014 in the…
Browsing: Deferred retirement
Q. I am currently retired (CSRS) and have single coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits plan. My spouse is still employed by the federal government (FERS) and has single coverage under FEHB. We were both under my family plan until our youngest child became ineligible. We then went to self-only plans because the premiums were less together than the family plan. She will be eligible for retirement in three years. She is also considering simply quitting before then and taking a deferred retirement when she is eligible. I am not covering her for spousal annuity, nor will she be covering me. We…
Q. I have 11 years total service (eight years military buyback and three years federal civilian employment) and I am 49 years old. If I leave federal employment at age 51 (with a total of 13 years service, five as a civilian employee), can I apply for deferred MRA+10 retirement and receive my pension and health care benefits when I turn 62? Or do I need to be my minimum retirement age (57 years old) when I leave federal employment? A. To retire under the MRA+10 provision, you’d have to be 57, your minimum retirement age. To avoid the 5…
Q. I retired after 30 years in the military and did not buy back my time. I am 53 and want to retire from FERS with 5½ years in. I know it’s a deferred retirement. Can I keep dental/vision insurance? Can I avoid the deferred retirement and draw a small pension right away? A. First, you don’t meet the age and service requirements for an immediate annuity. Second, employees who leave with an entitlement to a deferred annuity aren’t eligible to continue their coverage under the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program, nor may they re-enroll when their deferred…
Q. I am a FERS employee with 31 years of creditable service but will not reach my minimum retirement age (56) until May 2013. I am faced with possible termination but plan to resign. I understand that deferred retirees are not eligible for supplemental annuity, nor are they eligible to enroll in life insurance and health benefits. What if I am terminated rather than resigning? Will I be eligible for immediate annuity plus supplement and eligible to enroll in health benefits? Or I will only be eligible for deferred retirement in 2013 after reaching my MRA? A. It won’t make any difference to…
Q. My husband was employed by the federal government from June 1970 through July 1971and was covered under CSRS. He resigned and withdrew his CSRS contributions. He returned to work in the federal government in 1999 on a temporary appointment for a few months. In January 2000, he was appointed to a permanent federal position and began contributing to FERS. He left that permanent position in the fall of 2004. He left his FERS and Thrift Savings Plan contributions in the system. With the CSRS time and the FERS time, he is eligible for a deferred retirement now. He will have approximately…
Q. I am 47 years old, and I’m a nurse in a government hospital. In 2009, I injured my back, which required surgery. I’ve been off sick since 2010, going in and out of doctors. Early this year, I was told by my superiors to come back to work, but I’m still not feeling well. I sometimes can’t even walk because of the screws put into my back. I have asked for early retirement because I have more than 25 years of service, but they won’t allow me. They say I must resign if I don’t want to work. Please…
Q. If I were to resign from my current position at age 59 with 17 years of service and accept a position with a parish/county government, will I be able to re-enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program when I apply for my retirement benefits at age 62? A. No. Deferred retirees cannot re-enroll in FEHB.
Q. I am a non-dual-status employee, under FERS. I resigned in 2007 with a deferred retirement. I didn’t touch it. I came back in 2009 as an emergency hire non-dual-status for two years. I then was made a temporary NTE for two years. I was then brought back as a reinstatement employee NTE four years with my benefits back. Is there any way to pay back any of the time between when I resigned and when I came back as a reinstatement employee? When I resigned, I had 20 years of retirement but was nowhere near the age. I am…
Q. I am 54 and have almost 25 years of service to my agency. I am considering separating in a few months when I reach my 25-year mark. I understand my annuity will be 25 percent of my high-3 salary years. Can I assume that the salary used for computation is what I actually earned as a .8 employee, rather than the full GS salary rate? If I take deferred retirement at age 62, will I avoid any penalties? And will I be able to opt back into federal health insurance at age 62? A. If you resign from the government, you would…