Q. In the booklet the Postal Service mailed me, it states that if you reach your minimum retirement age during a reduction in force, you can receive the special retirement supplement. The MRA in a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority is 50, not 55. Therefore, I should get the supplement because I am 50 years old, correct? A. I think you misunderstood what you read. If you retire under the VERA and have already reached your MRA, you’ll be entitled to the special retirement supplement when you retire. If you take a VERA and are under your MRA, you’ll begin receiving…
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Q. I’m 58 and have worked under FERS for 20 years. If I take an early-out, do I get any penalties? What would my retirement benefit be? A. If you retired under the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, you wouldn’t be subject to an age penalty. Your annuity would be computed using the standard formula: .01 x your high-3 x your years and full months of service.
Q. Is Voluntary Early Retirement Authority offered to those who are already eligible to retire? Does VERA apply to your high-three calculation for retirement? A. It’s clear from your questions that you are asking about the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment, not VERA. According to OPM, “The Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment Authority, also known as buyout authority, allows agencies that are downsizing or restructuring to offer employees lump-sum payments up to $25,000 as an incentive to voluntarily separate. When authorized by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), an agency may offer VSIP to employees who are in surplus positions or have…
Q. I work for NASA and will be eligible for early FERS retirement under a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority this year. Can the agency or center deny an employee who requests a VERA separation if he/she is eligible? The response from my center has been, “While VERA requests are generally approved, employees must remember that separating under VERA is not an automatic entitlement and requests can be denied for various reasons.” I would like some policy insight to substantiate this statement. Are there approved criteria associated with such a denial? I would like to plan in advance for an early…
Q. I have been working for the Postal Service since September 1988, and I am now 58½. I will have 24 years and five months service time when the early retirement offer takes effect. Beside the annuity, do I also get that special retirement supplement? If so, how much is it if my retirement pay at 62 from Social Security is $1,350 a month? A. Yes, you’ll be entitled to the special retirement supplement. While I can’t tell you how much it will be, I can give you a formula that will approximate the amount. Here it is: Take that…
Q. I’m 50 years old, have worked for the Postal Service for 28 years, and am eligible for the voluntary early retirement offer. Would I be eligible to apply for Social Security disability benefits also? I am with FERS and have been profoundly deaf since birth. A. As a FERS employee who is covered by Social Security, you would be eligible to apply to SSDI. To find out if you would qualify for that benefit, go to www.ssa.gov/dibplan/dqualify.htm.
Q. If I’ve accepted the FERS Postal Service voluntary early retirement offer, can I then file for disability retirement? A. Yes. To find the rules and time limits on filing, go to www.opm.gov/retire/pre/fers/disability.asp and click on Applying for Disability Retirement.
Q. I’m a Postal Service employee under FERS, eligible for the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority. If I take the early-out, I’ll have 26 years and nine months of service and I’ll be 55 years of age at the time of last day of service. I’ll be 56 in June. I understand that if I take the early-out, I don’t have to have 30 years of service to get a percentage of the special retirement supplement, based on 26 years of service (that would put me at about 65 percent of what I would get from Social Security at age 62,…
Q. I recently received my FERS benefit estimate from the Postal Service regarding the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority offering to all eligible clerks. I am 53 years old with 27 years and 11 months of service. Am I eligible for the special retirement supplement (It was not included on my estimate I received)? If I am not eligible because of my age, will it be added to my annuity by the Office of Personnel Management when I turn 56? A. Although you are too young to be eligible for the special retirement supplement now, you will begin receiving it when you…
Q. I recently received my FERS benefit estimate from the Postal Service regarding the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority offering to all eligible clerks. I am 53 years old with 27 years and 11 months of service. Am I eligible for the special retirement supplement (It was not included on my estimate I received)? If I am not eligible because of my age, will it be added to my annuity by the Office of Personnel Management when I turn 56? A. Although you are too young to be eligible for the special retirement supplement now, you will begin receiving it when you…