By Reg Jones
Intermittent employment
February 23rd, 2012 | EMPLOYMENT
Q: I work on retirement benefits for employees. My question concerns intermittent employment for which the employee paid into FICA and wants the time to be counted toward service history for retirement. This work was performed in the late 1960s and the employee is under CSRS. I read somewhere that non-deduction service under CSRS will count toward retirement, even if the deposit is not paid. My concern is, whether OPM will accept the documentation that I have for proof of the intermittent employment. In order for OPM to accept the intermittent time worked for retirement, will the time accounted for from the SF-50s be sufficient (so that time can be counted by days) or does HR need to actually report the number of hours worked during the intermittent appointment? I am unable to find the exact number of hours worked during the intermittent appointment.
A: As a rule, OPM accepts the information on the SF-50s.
Tags: OPM, RETIREMENT
Work and Social Security
February 10th, 2012 | EMPLOYMENT
Q: I’m a full-time CSRS employee with 33 years. Next year I will be 62 and have sufficient credits to qualify for a small Social Security payment because of prior years of nonfederal work. I understand WEP, my question is about getting Social Security benefits while continuing to working full time in $50,000 a year job as a CSRS employee. At age 62, can I receive both Social Security retirement payment and continue to work full time as a federal employee? Do I fall subject to the age 62 Social Security retirement $14,160 income limitations in this situation?
A: Yes, you would be subject to the Social Security earnings test, which is $14,640 in 2012. As a result, it might not make sense for you to apply for a Social Security benefit until your earnings from wages and self-employment fall below the earnings limit. However, once you reach your full retirement age, which is 66, the earnings limit would no longer apply. Then you would be able to receive both your salary and a Social Security benefit.
Tags: CSRS, SOCIAL SECURITY
5 years for recomputation
February 8th, 2012 | EMPLOYMENT
Q: I am a re-employed annuitant (my annuity is being offset from my salary). I have about 2.5 years in this status. If I take a DoD position for a few years where I cannot have my salary offset, and then return to a position in which an offset is allowed for another 2.5 years, will I be eligible for recomputation when I again retire?
A: Yes.
Tags: re-employment
Resignation questions
February 8th, 2012 | EMPLOYMENT
Q: I am leaving federal service and have some unanswered questions that my servicing personnel office is unable to answer. I have more than 20 years in service and I am 49. I requested a one-year LWOP sabbatical but it was denied, as I was informed that it is typically only granted when you are taking time off to do your doctorate, which I am not. I want to know if a) I return to federal service, will my sick leave balance start over at 0 (it is currently nearly 700 hours) b) will the same retirement rules apply if I get another federal job within any amount of time (i.e. I am eligible to retire at 56 … do I have a limited time, say five years, to come back and still retain the same type of retirement? and c) Is there any other option to resignation if I am moving to another state?
Our office is closing in three years and they are sending VERA/VSIP applications to all employees in January. However, we have been unofficially informed by our personnel office that we would not be offered VERA/VSIP because only those positions that have too many of the same series (I am only one in my office of this series) would be affected.
A: Before resigning, you should go online at www.usajobs to see if there are other positions for which you are qualified in the state where you’ll be living. If nothing turns up and you do resign and later return to work for the government, you could pick up where you left off and retire when you met the age and service requirements. Any sick leave you had to your credit when you left would be restored. Note: If you got a refund of your retirement contributions when you resigned, you’d have to redeposit that money, plus accrued interest, to get credit for your prior service.
Tags: buyout, unused sick leave
Return to post office
December 21st, 2011 | Hiring and placement
Q: I was employed by the Postal Service from 1956 to 1968. In 1986, I was re-employed by the postal service. Am I included in the CSRS Offset? I wonder because I was re-employed after 1983, when anyone hired then went into FERS.
A: Because you had at least five years of CSRS service when you were re-employed by the federal government, you were automatically placed in CSRS Offset.
Tags: CSRS offset, Postal Service, re-employment
On-call overtime
December 20th, 2011 | EMPLOYMENT
Q: I am a Title-38 registered nurse for the Veterans Affairs Department. For more than 10 years, I have worked as evening-shift supervisor. My shift has been 3:30 p.m. until midnight. I carry an emergency pager, and I am not allowed to pass this pager off in order to take my 30 minute meal break. Am I entitled to overtime?
A: Probably not. However, you’ll have to check with your personnel office to be sure.
Tags: Overtime pay
Re-employment
December 7th, 2011 | EMPLOYMENT
Q: I retired from government at 57 in August 2009 under CSRS with 30 years of service/DoD Excepted Service. Due to the economy, I would like to go back to “regular/full time” government employment. Can I re-apply for government jobs (knowing I will give up my annuity) for a full-time GS position and salary?
A: There is no bar to you becoming a re-employed annuitant. However, you won’t have to give up your annuity; instead the salary of your new position will be reduced by the amount of your annuity.
Tags: CSRS, re-employment
Re-employment after disability
December 7th, 2011 | Hiring and placement
Q: If a person on CSRS disability retirement is under age 60 and his doctor believes he can return to work, can he return to the governement and maintain the same status as he was before he retired? Or will he have to start at the bottom like a new empoyee and start over just as if he had never worked?
A: While you may be re-employed in any position for which you are qualified, the law doesn’t require that your former agency or any other agency offer you a position. If you are rehired, your prior service – but not the time you were on disability retirement – will be credited to you in determining your total years of service. Your high-3 for retirement purposes would be your highest three consecutive years of average salary, no matter when they occured in your career.
Tags: disability, RETIREMENT
Transferring to another agency
December 6th, 2011 | EMPLOYMENT
Q: How long can my current agency retain me when I have accepted a position with a different agency? I accepted a position at the same grade but at a different series. My new/gaining agency has requested a release date 17 days in the future, meaning I will remain with my current agency for the next full pay period. However, my current agency has requested that I remain in place for 31 days, which is two pay periods. This is unacceptable to me and is being done out of spite. An HR specialist in my current agency indicated that this was permissible because it is a lateral-grade position. However, a friend that is an HR supervisor in another agency informed me that two weeks notice is the maximum amount of time my current agency can retain me, because it is not a transfer within the agency, but to an external agency. I have asked the HR specialist to provide me with the OPM reg that allows my current agency to retain me for 30 days. After two days, she indicated she is still researching it. I have scoured the OPM site and I have found nothing.
A: I’m not aware of any regulation that sets a specific time period between when one accepts a position at another agency and leaves his or her former agency. By convention, it is worked out between the two agencies. While it can be as little as one pay period where a promotion is involved, it may also be longer, but rarely more than two pay periods unless the employee is needed to complete an important assignment.
Tags: transfer
Postal workers are federal employees
November 3rd, 2011 | EMPLOYMENT
Q: As a postal employee, I would like to take a deferred retirement. I am under the FERS plan. Under the OPM website it states, “If you have completed at least 10 years of creditable service, including 5 years of civilian service, then you are eligible for deferred annuity beginning the first day of the month after you reach the MRA. What is mean by civilian service? Are postal employees civilian or federal employees?
A: Postal employees are federal employees. The word “civilian” is used to distinguish that federal service from military service. In other words, you have to have been a FERS-covered employee for at least 10 years to be eligible for a deferred annuity. No credit can be given for military service, even if a deposit is made.
Tags: FERS, Postal Service