Q. I represent an employee who retired with more than 42 years of service. At one point, this employee was a WG-11. He was severely injured on the job and went under Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs. It paid his wages for a period of time. At a later date the facility created a “light duty position” around his permanent disability. The position was set at a GS-4. This employee held this job for more than five years. Prior to his accepting this position, the facility coordinated with OWCP for it to continue to pay the “wage loss,” which was…
Browsing: high-3
Q: I am under CSRS and plan to retire at the end of 2012. I have a WGI due Dec. 30, 2012. If I retire Dec. 30 as a best date, will my annual leave payout include the WGI increase? Do you think Jan. 3, 2013, would add any benefit? A: Since your high-3 will be based on the average of your highest consecutive 36 months of pay, it’s unlikely that the difference in your annuity of retiring on the day of, the day after or up to January 3 would make any perceptible difference in your basic annuity. However,…
Q: When calculating high-3 for a FERS annuity, which number is used for the calculation – taxable wages or Social Security wages? Taxable wages do not include TSP contributions. A: Your high-3 will be calculated using the highest three consecutive years of average base pay. In other words, the total amount subject to retirement contributions before taxable or non-taxable deductions are taken out.
Q: I have 40 years of service under CSRS as of June 28. I wanted to work toward 80 percent, which would be another two years. With no cost of living increase scheduled for 2012 and talk of computing retirement at high-5 rather than high-3, I am nervous about getting caught up in the process. Once I retire, I wanted to sign with a Contractor and return to my agency as a contract employee for two to three years. I don’t know, with all the uncertainty, if I should retire sooner (to be safe with high-3 computation); or gamble and…
Q: Is there anything “magic” about hitting 35 years of service relative to how your annuity is computed under CSRS? I used to hear that, once you hit the 35-year mark, you reached a particular percentage milestone in the computation of your annuity, something comparable to the fact that, at 40 years, you cap out your annuity at 80 percent of pay. Is that an urban legend or is there something to it? I plan to retire next year with 34+ years of service and I am trying to decide if there is value in delaying retirement by a couple…
Q: I have 20 years and nine months of service as a military technician. I have switched to Active Guard Reserve status, and I have been on leave without pay for five years. If I decide to stay AGR can I draw 20.9 percent of my technician salary at 62, or another age? I don’t want to take a cash buyout now if I can defer it and receive 20.9 percent of my high-3 years sometime later. Could I possibly buy back the five years LWOP also, making it 25 years and nine months? A: As a FERS employee with…
Q. I am a current federal employee with 1 year and nine months to go before I can retire (20 years at age 50). I also have bought back 11 years military time. I was injured on the job in 2006 and have had several recurrences with my fifth disc. Been on OWCP, back to work, OWCP back to work, etc. My question is, if I were to elect a FERS disability retirement, would my military time that I bought back still figure into the equation or would you recommend trying to get to the 20 years and do a…
Q. I will be 62 next June 20 and am planning for my FERS retirement. I thought I read somewhere that for retirement purposes, you can retire anytime in the month you turn 62 (anytime in June, in my case), and still receive the 10 percent extra credit for time worked (to receive 1.1 percent of your high-3 for each year worked if you wait until you are 62, instead of the 1 percent for each year if under 62). Or do I have to actually wait until my birthday (or more likely the end of the month to get…
Q. My high-3 years were actually during three past years in an excepted service position and will not likely be my last three years. Will my actual past salary be used to calculate the high-3 or will it be based on the current levels paid for that higher grade? A. Your high-3 will be based on the average of your highest three consecutive years of base pay, regardless of when they occur in your career.
Q. I am a FERS-covered permanent part-time employee (64 hours per pay period), age 64, and will have five years of civil service employment in September. I retired from the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps with 31 years, seven months of service. It has been suggested to me that by making a Federal Employees Retirement System payment for the time over 30 years (one year and seven months), I could add that time to my length of service for my FERS annuity calculation. Is this true, and how do I go about doing that? A. To get credit for…