Q. I worked for the Social Security Administration for 28 1/2 years under CSRS and took early retirement at age 50 (three months shy of my 51st birthday) on Aug. 31, 2007. Recently, a position opened up. The job was classified as a temporary position Oct. 25, to Dec. 5 as a GS-4 employee (three paychecks). The position was opened since the current employee was going on leave. I was asked to apply since I had the background working in this area.
However, how does this affect my CSRS pension if I were to be rehired three years after retiring with an early out and penalties? Will I lose my CSRS if I stayed employed after the Dec 5 deadline? Will my pension be offset, and/or will I lose CSRS status if rehired? Will I get thrown under the FERS as a rehired employee?
A. If you retired voluntarily and are rehired into a temporary position, your annuity would continue and you would receive the full amount of your new salary until the temporary appointment expired. On the other hand, if you were involuntarily separated your annuity would stop and you’d only receive the salary of your new position. Further, you wouldn’t be able to retire again until you met the age and service requirements, which in your case would be age 55 with 30 years of service.