Q. How can a FERS employee change their retirement date if they’ve already declared one? A. You need to inform your supervisor (and your personnel office if you have already submitted your retirement application). Usually, changing your retirement date won’t be a problem. However, if your position is being eliminated as of a certain date or your agency has already committed itself to someone who will fill your position, then it can refuse your request to change the date of your retirement. The reason for its refusal will have to be presented to you in writing.
Browsing: retire
Q. I will be 60 on Nov. 30 and I have 26 years of working at the VA hospital. I also have three years and seven months of military time that I haven’t paid for. When can I retire? A. Regardless of whether you are covered by CSRS and FERS, because you have at least 20 years of service, you’ll be eligible to retire at age 60.
Q: I am retired military and also a DoD civilian under FERS. I use Tricare as my health insurance. When I retire, I would like to also have FEHB as a “backup” to Tricare, just in case something changes with Tricare. Do I have to have FEHB for five years prior to my retirement or can I get FEHB at any time once I retire? Also, can I include my family with FEHB coverage after retirement, even if they are not covered now? A: To carry FEHB coverage into retirement, you would have to be enrolled in it before you…
Q: I am thinking about leaving federal service after 18 years and will have at least 240 hours of annual leave accrued. I do not want to cash it out and prefer to leave it should I choose to return to federal service. May I do that? A: No.
Q: If I am of retirement-eligible age, and there is a reduction in force, can I ‘bump and retreat’, or can I be forced to take retirement? A: You cannot be forced to retire. The RIF rules will apply to you just as they do any other employee. FYI: If it turned out that the RIF would result in your separation, you would have the choice of voluntary or involuntary retirement.
Q: I am contemplating retiring on the 2011 VERA/VSIP offer. If I took a VSIP in 1995 and returned to federal employment in 2002, am I eligible to receive a VERA in 2011? A: There isn’t any bar to your accepting another offer of early retirement. However, you are barred for life from accepting another Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment.
Q: My father has been a federal employee since 1975 under CSRS. He intends to retire at some point in 2012 and has already elected for my mother to receive survivor benefits. If he passes away before he formally retires, does my mother still receive the survivor benefits, and is the amount the same as the amount would be if he had first formally retired and then passed away? Or does his retirement need to vest before she can collect her full survivor benefits? A: She would be entitled to a survivor annuity in either case. If he were to…
Q: I am a 57-year-old FERS employee with 26 years of service in my current position. I made a deposit in FERS some years ago to buy back previous civilian service. Some of this service involved intermittent time and LWOP. I recently met with my agency to determine whether I have 30 years of credit and thus can retire on an unreduced annuity and receive the special supplement. My agency had a great deal of difficulty making the determination. It took seven weeks and it had to consult with specialists at another center. It finally decided I will have 30…
Q: I’m reading a Reg Jones column for 2006. I cannot find a similar article discussing retirement at the end of 2011. A: Read my July 25 column, entitled “By the calendar, 2011 marks a good year to retire.”
Q: I’m a FERS employee. At 50 years of age I will have 25 years of working for the federal government. If I retire then, what will be the penalty? If I was to leave at 50, but would not apply for my pension until I was 55, would there still be a penalty? Would my pension be 50 percent of my best five years?(25 years X 2 percent = 50 percent)? A: You can’t retire at age 50. The earliest you could retire would be when you reach your minimum retirement age. MRAs range between 55 an 57, depending…