Q. I am a FERCCA case. I was inadvertently placed in FERS when hired by my agency after eight years in the legislative branch. I have elected CSRS offset coverage. I have 28 years, eight months of creditable service and am eligible to retire now. My annual salary and high-3 are not likely to change in the next few years. Are CSRS offset annuities helped by length of service? Would it benefit me to work two or three more years?
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Q. I resigned from federal service in July 2011. I have 15 years of service and am 53. I was a FERS employee. I’m trying to figure out what my retirement will be. My understanding is that I can start drawing my pension when I’m 56. I also understand there is a 5 percent penalty for each year under 62, meaning if I started taking my pension at 56, it would be reduced by 30 percent. It is also my understanding that the way to figure out what my pension would be is to use .01 x high-3 x years…
Q. I plan on retiring at age 65, when I will have completed 15 years of federal civilian service. I have also paid the deposit on six years and four months of active-duty military service. Can I add the active-duty service to my 15 years of federal civilian service to qualify for the 1.1 percent of high-3 average salary for each year of service formula for those Age 62 or Older at Separation With 20 or More Years of Service?
Q. On the high-3 for annuity purpose, what actually counts? Just base salary, salary plus overtime or salary plus overtime and other earning (deployment incentives such as danger pay and post differential pay)? I know a number of federal employees have deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan and received temporary promotions, additional overtime hours, danger pay and post differential pay, plus some also received separate maintenance allowance. Do these extras count toward the high-3?
Q. I am a former federal CSRS employee who lost employment when the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was closed in 1995. I had about 15 years of service and left my contributions in the system. I was born in July 1956 and am 56. When can I apply for a pension, and what can I expect? Would I take a deferred pension? Also, I have met my 40 quarters for Social Security and have been employed for about 17 years with the School District of Philadelphia. I am thinking about retiring when I am 62 but would like to know my…
Q. I understand that credited sick leave will not influence how the high-3 is calculated. But will credited sick leave count toward annuity calculation in meeting age or service requirements to receive the 1.1 percent factor? If a person has 19 years and six months day-for-day in FERS and adds/applies eight months of unused sick leave, will this qualify for the 1.1 percent calculation factor (high-3 x .011 x 20 years two months)?
Q. I need your help in calculating my future annual or monthly annuity. I’m 57, birth year 1955. I’m waiting until I’m 62 to ask for my monthly annuity. I was hired in 1995 into the GS system. I left in 2008. Would my high-3 be my GS salary? It was averaged out using 1 percent of my high-3 to $560.48 x 15 years creditable service = $8,407.20 annual annuity divided by 12 months, which would be $700.60 a month. Is this correct? Am I still eligible for this monthly annuity, even though I left federal service? I have not…
Q. I’m a 100 percent disabled veteran, effective April 2008, with war-incurred injuries. In 2010, I applied for disability retirement while working for the Postal Service with 14 years of service and did not buy back my military time. The Office of Personnel Management calculated my high-3 on my postal salary alone. Should they not have calculated my Veterans Affairs Department compensation income from 2008, since it was a war-incurred injury that led me to retire? Is there a statue that protects vets who have war-incurred injuries? And does OPM allow special compensation for this matter?
Q. My service computation date is Oct. 15, 1979, and I was eligible for my CSRS annuity on Sept. 23, 2008 (60 years old; 29 years of service). My plan is to retire Sept. 30. This will give me 34 years, one month and 23 days of service, counting sick leave. Is my retired pay based on my age now (65 years old, five years or 10 percent over the 60/20 requirement) or my years of service (34 — four over the required 30 years or 8 percent over the requirement)?
Q. I am a CSRS employee who will be 55 years old in September 2015 and will have 38 years of federal service. Some are telling me to stay until I have 41 years because of the added benefit. What’s the big difference? I’d like to go as soon as I’m eligible.