Q. I retired from the Army in 1991 with 22+ years of service as a command sergeant major. I went to work immediately as a FERS civil service employee, and nine years and nine months later, was offered an early retirement and a $25,000 one-time incentive payment because of agency drawdowns. To qualify, I would have to waive my military retirement, which I did, and that brought my total years of service to about 32 years or so. Had I known then what I know now, I would have simply completed three more months of FERS employment and taken the…
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Q. I started working for the government in 2008 and resigned for personal reasons this year. I was told by one representative at the Office of Personnel Management that because I vested more than three years, I am eligible for a refund of retirement I paid into FERS, as well as monies the government paid. I was then told by another rep that that is not true, that I can only get the money I invested into retirement. Can you please tell me which on is true? A. You can only get a refund of your retirement contributions. No one…
Q. I worked for the Interstate Commerce Commission from September 1984 to September 1994. Will I be eligible to collect retirement benefits when age appropriate? A. Yes, if you didn’t take a refund of your retirement contributions when you left government. Because you had at least five years of service, you could apply for a deferred annuity at your minimum retirement age (MRAs range from 55 to 57 depending on your year of birth). However, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year you were under age 62, unless you postponed the receipt of your annuity to…
Q. I was a half-time Veterans Affairs Department psychologist at an outpatient clinic from 1981 to 1993. During the first part of the period of employment, I recall that I was part of the standard VA retirement system. If my memory is correct, I was compelled to join the Thrift Savings Plan and also had some reduced level of participation in the some retirement plan (maybe it was Social Security) in the final years of my employment. I received an annual notice regarding TSP, but I have not received any other information on any possible retirement benefits. I am now…
Q. Can early-out money be used to pay back refunded money? Since the Office of Personnel Management sends you the option either to buy time back or not, you would have the early-out money in hand. A. Yes, you can redeposit the amount you owe prior to the final adjudications of your claim by OPM.
Q. I retired from the Air Force after 20 years of service. I am receiving retirement pay. I was given a 40 percent disability rating from the Veterans Affairs Department. VA takes out a percentage of my military pension and then sends that to me tax-free. I now work for the Department of Energy, and I have bought back my 20 years of service. I would like to retire at my minimum retirement age of 56, which is about six years from now, which if separated would give me my 20 years military and 17 years FERS. I was told that…
Q. I took my retirement money out in 1990. Can I use Voluntary Separation Incentive Pay money to pay that back? The Office of Personnel Management told me I would have the opportunity to buy back refunded money or time before final annuity payments were calculated, but I worried that if I retired, they would not count that time into my annuity before I had time to pay it back. A. What OPM told you is correct. And, since you will have your VSIP long before your annuity is finalized, you’ll be able to make the redeposit with time to…
Q. I am 50 years old with 30 years of service. I plan on resigning from my federal government job. In three to five years, I will try to be rehired at age 54 or 55. What will happen to my sick leave balance? Also, as I understand it, I will be able to retire normally at my minimum retirement age (56) if rehired. There appears to be no minimum amount of time I need to be re-employed with the federal government to retire as long as I meet MRA and the 30-year requirement. My health insurance will be good also…
Q. I am 57 and worked for the Postal Service from 1981 to 1997. I took a refund of my contributions when I left. Am I eligible for health benefits? If I took a position now with the USPS, could I get reinstated? A. No, you aren’t eligible for health benefits. If you went back to work for the government, you could enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program (or re-enroll if you were enrolled in the FEHB program during your previous period of employment).
Q. I have 30 years of federal service: two years in CSRS, in which I did not get a retirement refund; four years in the Coast Guard, where I made a deposit for my time; and 24 years under FERS. When I retire under FERS at my minimum retirement age, 56, will the two years under CSRS be considered FERS and used toward my special retirement supplement calculation? A. Yes, because those two years were automatically converted to FERS time. If you had worked under CSRS for five or more years, they wouldn’t have been. Instead, you’d have a CSRS…