Q. I am retired Army with 22 years and nine months being paid my monthly retirement check. I retired in May 2011. I started as a GS FERS employee in February 2013. I am in a target GS 12 position, which basically means that I will be a GS 12 in February 2017. I did the DFAS Payback estimator for military time and it stated that I would owe about $18,000. My monthly retirement check right now is about $2,200 a month. I know that I will have to waive that once I retire from civilian service in order to…
Browsing: FERS
Q. I retired last year under FERS at age 56 with 28 years and seven months service. I took an early out. I would have had my full 30 years in January 2015. I applied as a rehired annuitant this month with the same agency and everything looked like I was going to be hired, but the manager called and said I didn’t qualify for the annuity offset waiver because I had taken an early out, and they were only allowed to hire those people who qualified for the waiver at this time. Is it true that if you take…
Q. I resigned from the federal government May 21 with a retirement SCD date of March 22, 1988, so I am vested in FERS. When I elect to apply for a refund of my FERS, do I get everything that I have in my FERS account or just the portion that I put in? A. You’d get what you contributed to the retirement system, plus accrued interest.
Q. I worked for the federal government from May 1985 to February 2005 as a FERS employee. My remaining annual leave was paid out to me, and I had more than 700 hours of accumulated sick leave. I moved all of my TSP contributions into another fund several years ago. As I plan for retirement, are there any retirement benefits I can receive or can I receive payment for sick leave? I saw in your column: “If you are already off the rolls, you can apply for a refund up to 31 days before your 62nd birthday.” That is fast…
Q. I’m a retirement eligible FERS employee also eligible for the supplement when I retire. I’m thinking of retiring this Dec. 31 since I may be offered a VSIP to retire due to force restructuring. Will a VSIP payment count against the 15K something minimum level of earnings? A. No, it won’t. The limit applies only to earnings from wages or self employment.
Q. I retired from federal service in February 2010 under the FERS Special system and my MRA is Febuary 2016. I understand that if I work after February 2016, my FERS supplement will be means tested against how much I am making in salary. If I work after my MRA, making 150K for only two years and therefore lose my supplement during that time frame, would the supplement restart after I worked those two years, and would the supplement stay at the same amount as when I retired in February 2010?
Q. I was hired at the Defense Department in October 2012, and thus I contributed .8 percent of my pay to FERS. I transferred to VA in April 2014 with no break in service and now have 3.1 percent of my pay deducted, and I am told that it is increasing to 4.4 percent of my pay, as this rate applies to new hires after January 2014. Is it correct that I should be treated as a new hire, despite in all other areas being treated as a transfer (leave carried forward, no ability to change benefits until open season)?…
Q. I’m an air traffic controller hired in 1985 under CSRS offset as a flight service controller and later converted to FERS with no explanation. I’m coming up on age 56, does the CSRS exemption for flight service specialists appointed prior to Jan. 1, 1987 apply? If not, which law explains the differences between CSRS and CSRS offset? A. You were actually hired as CSRS Interim employee (CSRS and Social Security). Because you had fewer than five years of CSRS coverage on Jan. 1, 1987, you were automatically converted to FERS. Therefore, the exemption you referred to doesn’t apply.
Q. I retired from the military with a 40-percent VA disability. I am now a government employee under FERS. If I buy back my military time and then retire under FERS, will I still receive my VA disability payments and, if so, will the VA payments be deducted from my FERS retirement in the same way as they are deducted from my military retirement today? A. While you would have to waive your military retired pay when you retire from your civilian position, you wouldn’t have to waive your VA disability payments. They would have no affect on your FERS…
Q. My USPS retirement eligibility date is Dec. 30 (56th birthday). My annuity projection shows about a $10,000 difference if retiring Dec. 30 vs. April 15 next year, which would be exactly 30 years. Is this correct? A. If you retired at your MRA but with fewer than 30 years of service, you’d be retiring under the MRA+10 provision, which would reduce your annuity by 5 percent for every year you were under age 62. To avoid that hit, you’ll need to wait until you have 30 years of service to retire.