Q. I am a civil service employee that was involuntarily retired from the Department of Defense in 1997 due to base closure. I received a VSIP/VERA in the amount of $25,000. At the time I was 47 years old with 23 years plus four years of military time, which was credited toward retirement. Three months later I was hired by the U.S. Postal Service. I have been there for a little more than 19 years now. I am 66 years old now and am considering retirement this year. Will I be allowed to retire with the total years of service or…
Browsing: High-3
Q. Is the cost of the spousal benefit I elect on the day I retire (approximately 10 percent of my pension) set in stone? Or do I have to pay more each year because the value of my pension is going up due to the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA)? (Is it 10 percent of retirement pay on Day 1 and that amount is paid forever, or 10 percent of my pension as it goes up due to COLA? Is the value of my spousal benefit based on 55 percent of the amount of my high-3 pay at retirement or is it 55 percent of my pension at…
Q. I will have been with the IRS for 20 years on September 30, 2019, and I plan to retire Feb. 23, 2020. I have taken leave without pay (LWOP) several times for medical reasons throughout my career. How does LWOP affect my retirement date?
Q. Is the High-3 only up to the pay cap? Does the pay cap even matter when determining the High-3?
Q. How does one calculate top three? Is that the amount you make annually for the last three years of your top salary? For example: .01 x $62,000 x 20 (with $62,000 being the average of one’s top 3).
Q. I think I joined the federal workforce way too early. According to my service computation date, I will have reached 30 years on Aug. 8, 2018 — mere days after I turn 49 — and I’m guessing my earliest possible retirement date will be Dec. 31, 2018. Of course, this is all information I have gleaned from my research. My somewhat pessimistic guess is something will change that retirement date between now and then and kick it down the road beyond Dec. 31, 2018. What do you think?
Q. I am 63 and have 28 years of paying Social Security under CSRS Offset, and 13 years of CSRS. For CSRS Offset, they show a reduction of Social Security to almost 50 percent due to the windfall; yet with the Offset, it appears that I still will be getting the same total retirement amount (approximately 80 percent of High-3) between Social Security and windfall. If I kept working under Social Security until I hit 30 years, will the CSRS annuity be reduced based on the increased Social Security so its stays within the approximate 80 percent of my High-3, or will it increase based on the…
Q. I was forced to take medical leave because I slipped and fell in the ice and snow. The injury caused a severe illness, and eventually my agency separated me on disability retirement. Later I was awarded Social Security Disability Insurance. They offset my disability annuity by the same amount, so I have to pay the Office of Personnel and Management back the same amount I received from SSDI. It seems like I shouldn’t have applied for SSDI if they were going to deduct the amount of the SSDI from my disability benefit. What do you think?
Q. Working to Jan. 3, 2018, means an employee leaves the second Thursday of the first pay period of 2018 with 3 days (Jan. 4-6) not worked. Is a partial sick or annual leave benefit calculated and added for the worked days in the partial pay period? Also, is there an online calculator to calculate a retirees annuity and the additional days necessary to add one month using data from one’s High-3, time in service, and annual and sick-leave balances?
Q. Will my time in the military be considered as part of my High-3 if I buy back my military time? My High-3 occurs during my time in the military, not during civil service.