Q. I am a FERS employee with 26 years, four months service. I am 51 years, two months old. My place of work is experiencing a restructure/reorganization and is offering VERA/VSIP. Will I be able to get the special retirement supplement when I am at the minimum retirement age? I have a Thrift Savings Plan account and was looking at a lump sum from that. A. Yes, you will be eligible to receive the special retirement supplement when you reach your MRA.
Browsing: VSIP
Q. My brother-in-law is retired military and has worked for the Air Force as a civil servant for approximately 25 years (FERS). He is 64. His job is offering a Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment, but he was told he could not get the VSIP because he receives a military retirement pension. My benefits specialist said this was not true — that VSIP has nothing to do with the military pension. Have you heard of this? If so, what regulation? A. What he was told is completely untrue. The fact that he is receiving military retired pay has no bearing on…
Q. I am 44 years old, and I am covered under FERS with a scheduled leave date of November 1985 but did not start working full time until August 1989. I recently enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefits plan, as my wife’s insurance coverage was better than FEHB. If offered, would I be eligible for a VERA/VSIP without any penalty? A. Yes. Although you worked part time for several years, your service computation date shows that you were given full-time credit for those years of service. The only effect of having worked part time is that your annuity will…
In these days of tight budgets and pinched staffing ceilings, employees at some agencies, including the U.S. Postal Service, are weighing whether to accept offers of early outs or buyouts. There are two flexibilities agencies can use to reduce the disruption of downsizing: the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) and the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP). Most agencies have to get Office of Personnel Management approval to offer a VERA, the early-out authority. OPM will designate the geographic areas and occupations to be covered by a VERA. It also will set the time during which the early outs will be…
Q. If your agency or command does a survey for buyouts, does your immediate command and/or supervisors have a say as to which employees would get the buyouts, or could they have any influence in the matter ? And is there any way to track the possible potential of the buyouts to your command? A. Voluntary separation incentive payments aren’t like voluntary early retirement authority offers. When an agency needs to reduce its staffing level across the board or in specific activities, VERAs are used to shake the tree and see who falls out. Hopefully, it will be enough to avoid…
Q. I am a FERS employees who retired Dec. 31, 2011, accepting a VERA/VSIP. I had planned to retire at age 62. I am 61 and will be turning 62 in August with 16 years of federal service. How and how much was I penalized for accepting the early-out? A. Your annuity would have been reduced by 5/12 of 1 percent for every month you were under age 62.
Q. My agency was planning to conduct a reduction in force in November 2011. Prior to that, there was a mock RIF in which we pretty much determined where employees would bump/retreat to. Based on that information, I elected to apply for a Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment and was approved in September 2011, under optional retirement (30 years FERS with minimum retirement age). Retirement would be by March 31, 2012, for the VSIP. Two months later, in November, the RIF was canceled, and a second VSIP date established, where we could leave Aug. 31. Since the RIF was canceled, I…
Q. I am a 53-year-old FERS employee who requested to buy back my military service time through payroll deductions. The intent was to retire at 62 from federal service, at which time the years of military service would have been completely bought back. Now, my agency is offering Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments. I am tempted to accept one and opt for a delayed retirement. I don’t believe the VSIP would affect my projected future retirement benefits (please verify that). However, must I continue to make monthly payments to the Office of Personnel Management to complete the buyback prior to age…
Q. I am a FERS employee working at an Air Force base with the Defense Department. I have about 31½ years service and am 62 years old. During the last year, my base has offered two VSIP/VERA opportunities to reduce the manning levels to what they were in 2010 and accommodate some reorganizing, and I hear they will be making a third offer in May. I applied for the last two and was denied for both. I was told by my management that our wing organization had vacant slots they could give up so a person could be offered a…
Q. I was just wondering if there is a list of people in civil service who are being offered a buyout but for some reason can’t take it. I have 40 years in service, and if they could qualify for my job, can we exchange their buyout for my job? I work for FISC out of Norfolk, Va., and I haven’t heard of any buyouts being offered through them yet. I was just wondering if someone needed another 6-10 years in service and was being offered a buyout because of downsizing or whatever, then maybe we could swap. If so,…