Q: I am a Federal Employees Retirement System employee who started as a civilian federal employee in 1989 after 5½ years of active-duty military service. I am 49 years old. I am trying to figure out if it would make sense to buy back my military time. Is there a retirement age gap between when it would be a good idea and when it would not be? I am currently a GS-11 and the buy-back amount would be a little under $6,000. I also retired from the Army Reserve back in 2000. A: I can’t tell you whether you should…
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Q: I’m 48 years old, with prior active-duty military service of six years, as well as 7.5 years of prior FLES Federal Employees Retirement System service. I have been out of the federal workforce for several years and have a recent offer to return to the federal government. The personnel specialist at the VA facility, where the job offer has been extended, could not tell me if my prior 7.5 years of federal LE retirement service would be credited at the special LE calculation rate (1.7%) per year (x high 3) in the event of my future retirement from said…
Q. I am a FERS employee who is 58 1/2 years old with 27 years of service. Can I retire now and defer my retirement annuity to age 60 without a penalty? A: You can retire now and, because you have at least 20 years of service, postpone the receipt of your annuity until you reach age 60. That way you can avoid the 5 percent per year age reduction penalty.
Q. The Defense Authorization Act was signed in October 2009. When does this act go into effect and do current FERS employees retiring in 2010 have this option? A. The provision allowing FERS retirees to get credit for unused sick leave applies to those employees retiring on or after Oct. 28, 2009, the date the law was enacted.
Q. I’m a FERS employee who is planing to retire in December of this year. When is the best day, Dec 30, 31 or in January 2011? A: As a FERS employee, you have to retire no later than the last day of a month to be on the annuity roll in the following month. If you retire at the end of business on Dec. 31, you will have satisfied that requirement and also completed a pay period. Therefore, you would be entitled to any annual and sick leave you earned during that pay period, and paid for any annual…
Q. I am considering retirement from the Postal Service after 35 years (includes military time) and am would like to become a TSA agent. Would I be able to collect my CSRS pension and work FERS if hired? A. You’d need to check with the Transportation Security Administration to confirm that you would be able to receive both, without a reduction in either.
Q. The U.S. Postal Service has given employees retiring voluntarily on Oct. 31, 2009 an amount of $15,000. Will the first check of $10,000 have everything taken out for federal and state taxes, Medicare, Social Security, health benefits, etc? When would my first annuity check start? I am a Civil Service offset employee with 12 years under FERS. I had a total of 30 years of both civil service and FERS but I left and came back to the USPS in 1997 (7 years). I took out the money in the retirement fund and so lost 20 years credit to…
Q. I was an active-duty firefighter in the Air Force. Does that time count towards the special computation for retirement of LE/FF/ATC? I am currently not a FF in the federal system but am a federal employee. A: No, it does not. It would only count if you were a firefighter who was called to active duty and then returned to your firefighter position.
It’s not too late to retire in 2009, and it’s not too soon to at least begin planning to retire in 2010 or 2011. For this year and the next two years, the calendar is working in favor of many of you. Let me explain. As my regular readers know, my position is that there is no one best date to retire. However, each of you can pick the best one for you if you know how. First, you must figure out if you are ready to retire. To do that, you have to answer three questions: Do you meet…
Q: Can you apply for Social Security disability after you have retired under the Federal Employees Retirement System from the Postal Service, or should you have applied for disability under Social Security before your retired? Also, does Social Security request your medical information from your doctors, or do you have to get this information to them yourself? A: If you are applying for disability retirement under FERS, you have to apply for Social Security disability benefits. If you don’t, the Office of Personnel Management won’t process your application. If you are retiring on a nondisability annuity, you may apply for…