Q: I am a federal firefighter (GS-0081). Prior to entering federal civilian service, I was on active duty in the Army for seven years and I am currently a National Guardsman. I will retire from the National Guard in three years. If I choose to buy back the seven years of active-duty time for my Federal Employees Retirement System retirement, will I have to forfeit the National Guard retirement or that portion of the National Guard retirement? A: No — if you make a deposit for your active-duty time, you won’t have to forfeit any part of your National Guard…
Browsing: firefighter
Q: I am a federal firefighter (GS-081 series) covered by the Civil Service Retirement System. I work for the National Park Service. My department is being abolished this year, with a local city department taking responsibility of fire supression. RIF notices are coming out next month. I am under CSRS retirement. I have 27.5 years in, I am 48.5 years old. I can retire at age 50. The Park Service has said that they can’t place me anywhere else because they have no GS-081 positions anywhere. They want to give me an early retirement. Will I face any penalties for…
Q. I just attended an agency-sponsored retirement class at my office. It was told, by the private contractor, to all the firefighters and law enforcement personnel attending that overtime is calculated as part of your base pay along with locality pay when considering your high-3. Is this true? Can we include the overtime and if so can you please cite where I can find it? A. No, it isn’t true. Overtime, as such, is not considered to be a part of basic pay when calculating an employee’s high-3. However, firefighters do get credit for a certain portion of their standby…
Q. I am a DoD firefighter for the Department of the Army for three years now. Before my current employment I was an Air Force military firefighter for eight years. I am in the process of buying back my military time and I entered the federal system at the age of 30. What age can I retire? I have been told that the eight years can be added to the “front end” of my retirement, which would mean I could retire at the age of 47 (25 years any age). Now the other scenario is age 50 and 20 years…
Q. On Feb 16, you answered the below stated question, Can I please get some more information on this. Any reference or regulation you were using. We have a firefighter who will be retiring in the next nine months who was told by our CPAC (Army Civilian Personnel Office) that even though he will have 20+ years as a firefighter, If he leaves special retirement and transfers to another job instead of retiring that is outside of the special retirement, that he will lose it, and when he finally retires, it will be a normal retirement rate even though he…
Q. I have been in a primary firefighter position for roughly nine years. I am curious what will happen to my FERS retirement calculations if I move into a position that is not covered by special retirement rules, for example, a recreation job. How will the nine years of firefighter time be figured into my retirement calculations? I understand that more money (1.7 percent) is deducted from my paycheck for my retirement fund than my co-workers who are not firefighters, so that must come into play when my retirement annuity is calculated, right? I’ve been looking at the FERS handbook,…
Q. I retired from the U.S Forest Service on 7/03/05 at age 52 under CSRS Firefighter retirement. I retired out of a secondary firefighter position that I went into from a primary firefighter position with no break in service. If I am rehired by the U.S Forest Service now, after 4.5 years retired, into a secondary firefighter position, will I still have to take mandatory retirement at age 57 or will the break in service mean that no firefighter retirement will be in effect for any “supplemental” or separate annuity I may acquire? Basically, in this scenario, can I work…
Q: As a federal firefighter retiring under FRES at the mandatory age of 57, can I continue working in another agency? For instant, transferring into fire prevention, which does not apply to the mandatory retirement or to another federal agency outside of the federal fire service. If so, would I still receive the firefighter retirement computation? A: Once you have 20 years of covered service, you have locked in your eligibility to retire under the more generous computation formula for firefighters. You can continue working where you are in any job or work for another federal agency without affecting that…
Q: I am a firefighter under the Federal Employees Retirement System holding a secondary position with a service computation date of 2003. I retired from the Air Force after 20 years of military service. I have a number of questions. Would it be prudent for me to buy back my military time, which would allow me to retire early from civil service? If I do buy back my military time and retire, would I lose my military retirement check? Part of my retirement is a 40 percent service-connected disability from the Veterans Affairs Department. The other half is from the…
Q: As a federal firefighter covered under the Federal Employees Retirement System, I have to retire at age 57. I have been told that that under FERS, we get a Social Security supplement and as such we are limited in what we can earn after retirement. Is this true? I know that when one retires and draws Social Security, one is limited to $14,160 per year in earnings from other sources. Is this the case when we are forced to retire at 57? A: Yes, it is. In 2010, if you were to earn more than $14,160 from wages or…