Q. How is my annuity reduced after working full time for seven years, part time for 10 years and then full time for an additional 13 years? Is it still the high-3, or is there a reduction because of less money contributed for those 10 part-time years?
Browsing: high-3
Q. I am a FERS GS-11 step 10 employee planning to retire at 66 with 25 years of federal service in 2016. Pensions are based on the high-3. Is the high-3 based on base pay for the grade and step or base plus locality percentage? The 2012 GS Base table shows 11 step 10 as $65,371. Base plus locality equals $77,138, or an addition of 14.16 percent or $11,767 over base. There is a large difference when calculating retirement figures using $65,371 versus $77,137.
Q. I retired from the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Jan. 3, 2007, after working there for 33½ years plus 1½ years of credit for accumulated sick leave. I elected to provide full survivor’s benefits to my wife. Can I determine what my annuity would have been had I not elected to provide full survivor’s benefits to my wife? I know this information was provided to me before I decided to retire, but I cannot locate those documents.
Q. I am a legacy U.S. Customs officer. When we switched over to law enforcement officer status, we were told we would be grandfathered in and therefore our retirement computation would go like this: high-3 x 10 years x 1 percent plus high-3 x 6 years x 1.7 percent. Is that true? Someone said I would have to work 20 years in a law enforcement position to get the enhanced 1.7 percent computation. I thought that was for those hired under the 1.7 percent enhanced retirement.
Q. I’m a 46-year-old FERS employee. I’m accepting a temporary reassignment to an “acting” role at a higher grade (15). Will this count toward my high-3?
Q. What are the benefits of buying military service time toward civil service? I have 14 years of military service and two years of civil service and am trying to figure out if it is beneficial to buy military time or not. What is the best way to figure this out?
Q. I am an FERS GS with four years until I get my 20 under 6(c) law enforcement officer and a year and half after that until mandatory retirement. I have been offered a 6(c) job overseas — how is the high-3 calculated? Is it on the base level GS schedule (plus LEAP) I actually earn, or is it based on a modified amount of what I would have earned in DC — which is how the overseas postings on Foreign Service retirement seems to work? I am pretty sure all the COLA, post allowances and danger pays don’t calculate…
Q. In calculating a retiree’s high-3, do personnel consider the pay rate I should be receiving or the pay rate I am actually receiving? Under this pay freeze, I am a FS-01 Step 5, but I am being paid at the FS-01 Step 3 level. If I retired this year, would my annuity be calculated using the pay I should be receiving (at the Step 5 level) or usingthe pay I’m actually receiving (at the Step 3 level)?
Q. I am a Defense Department employee with 39 years of service under CSRS. How will sequestration, specifically the potential for 20 percent reduction in pay, affect calculation of my high-3? Will it be based on my salary per the GS tables or actual pay? If it is on actual pay, it seems as though it would be better for me to retire now rather than later.
Q. I am 57 and was a civilian firefighter for the Navy in FERS with 13 years of service. I was medically retired in 2001 and have been receiving a disability annuity since. I remember being told or having read that when I turn 62, my disability annuity will revert to a standard retirement, reducing my pension. A couple of years after I left the federal system, I found part-time work to help add to my income, staying well under the 80 percent requirement, but over the last two to three years, my medical issues have worsened, and I am…