Q. My father is very ill and might not make it. I have no idea what his finances are. I know he served in the military for two years and retired from the Postal Service with over 20 years. Is there any way to get information about his benefits, if he has any? I don’t know if he was with FERS or CSRS. A. If he was receiving an annuity, that fact should be noted in his personal records and in his bank statements. You might check his wallet to see if he’s carrying an identification card issued by the Office…
Browsing: FERS
Q. I left the federal service 15 years ago, so I am a discontinued service employee with FERS and Thrift Savings Plan retirement accounts. I am 65 years old and have not started to take my FERS annuity payments, which should have started at age 62. Since I am making a reasonably good income outside of the federal government at the moment, I decided to hold off starting my FERS annuity payments until I actually retire — which may be in several more years, so I will be in a lower tax bracket. Is this a mistake? Are my assumptions correct in that whenever I…
Q. I am receiving Social Security benefits. I am still a federal employee under FERS and having Social Security deducted from my pay. I get a statement from the Social Security Administration for the amount I received for taxes, but it does not acknowledge the amount deducted from my salary as being against the amount received. I called them, and they don’t know if it could be deducted or not. The IRS doesn’t seem to know either. Do you know? A. There is no reason why the statement of benefits you received would include any information about the deductions taken from your pay. The…
Q. I retired from the Postal Service with 30 years of service at age 56.5. I am looking to apply to TSA as a transportation security officer but wonder if this will have any effect on my retirement being received from the Office of Personnel Management? Also, if I were to work for TSA for one, three or five years and then quit, would OPM recompute my retirement adding these years in (35 vs. 30)? I am applying for part-time work (25 hours weekly) and retired under FERS. I will have been retired for five years as of Dec. 31. A. You’ll…
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…
Q. I am a FERS employee who retired Jan. 31. I know I will receive pay for half of my sick leave. When will I be paid? A. You won’t receive a payment for half of your unused sick leave. That’s because it has no cash value. Instead, you will get credit for it in the computation of your annuity.
Q. I am 58 with 33 years of civil service benefits. Is there a big advantage to waiting until I have 35 years in to retire? A. If you are covered by CSRS, your annuity would be increased by 2 percent for every additional year you worked. If you are covered by FERS, the increase would be 1 percent per year. It’s up to you to figure out whether that’s an advantage.
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. I’m 71 and have been working under FERS since 1991. I started collecting Social Security benefits when I turned 67. My husband worked for the federal government under FERS since 1991, as well. He retired three years ago and collected Social Security benefits. He passed away in November, and Social Security benefits got cut off. Am I entitled to any of his benefits, like a percentage? A. To find out what your survivor benefit would be and how to apply for it, go to www.ssa.gov/survivorplan/ifyou5.htm.
Q. I am a FERS employee, have 28.7 years of service and am 56 years old, which put me in that MRA+10 provision and am eligible for the “federal supplement” check. I’m seven months away from having my five years under my health insurance. Why is it that I can get the OPM to sign a waiver so I can take my health insurance with me under a VERA, yet if I want to go now, I lose it? Or is there a way I can take it with me now regardless? If I could take my health insurance with me…