Q. I am a federal law enforcement officer (6c covered). I want to do 20 years covered and five years nonlaw enforcement. I will be 48 with 25 years (20 law plus five nonlaw). Can I retire at 48 with law enforcement retirement, or would I have to wait until I turn 50? I was told by HR that I could do the 20 and five and retire with enhanced retirement. The goal is to do my 20 and get out of law enforcement but retain the enhanced retirement.
A. You would have to have 25 years of covered service to retire at any age. However, if an offer of early retirement came your way, you could retire with 20 years of LEO service and five year of noncovered service and retire at any age. In either case, your annuity would be the same.
8 Comments
Geez, I didn’t write this original post, but I have the exact same scenario & question (25 years of 6C time would take me to age 48).
Can I work 20 years 6C to age 43, then work a non-covered positon for 7 years to reach age 50 and still retire with the LEO benefits?
Yes. Your 20 years of LEO service would be computed using the enhanced formula, the rest under the standard one.
Based on the answer above. Under this same scenario, since military deposits can be used to meet the 25 year VERA requirement, can one then use there military deposit to qualify for the additional five “non-covered” years and retire at any age with LEO benefits under a VERA offer to a LEO as long as the (20yr) 6c requirement is met?
VERA offer – (20yrs 6C) then (5) military = 25 total service (1.7 %x20yrs, then, 1%x5yrs)?
If not, why would an offer of a VERA be offered to a Law Enforcement category employee?
As long as the (20yr) 6c requirement is met and you have at least 5 years of non-LEO service for which a deposit has been made, you can retire at any age when offered a VERA.
REG – based on your answer above. Can you use this scenario above and VERA retire at age 46 years old?
Example: (20) 6c years have been completed + (5) years of Military (non Leo) which all deposits HAVE BEEN made = 25 years of service and is 46 years old.
A VERA opportunity has been offered, however, despite completing the (20) year 6C, my HR is advising the calculations will only be calculated using the standard 1% Instead of the LEO rate of 1.7% for the first 20 years?
Does this sound correct?
Yes, it does. That’s because active duty service for which you’ve made a deposit doesn’t count toward the 25 years of LEO service you would need to retire at any age.
Let’s say I’m 42yoa and I’m currently a CBP officer with at least 2 years of service and I’m under the Enhanced CBP officer special retirement. Can I transfer over my ECBPO retirement(years) to ICE Deportation Officer that’s 6(c) covered? Every requirement is the same (age(40 cut-off ), year’s of service and Leo retirement percent(1.7%)) except CBP has an enhanced retirement and ICE has a LEO 6(c). My goal is to work for ICE but I believe my age won’t let me be able to apply. Please help! Thank you
Unfortunately, I don’t know. Maybe one of our readers can help us find the answer.