By Reg Jones
Creditable service
February 26th, 2010 | Uncategorized
Q: Can you tell me how many years I have of Creditable Service? I am a FERS employee. I have also paid back about eight years of active duty Air Force.
A: Write down the amount of time you have worked under FERS. Then write down the amount of active duty service for which you made a deposit. Add the two figures together and you’ll have the total amount of your creditable service.
Sick leave and retirement
December 11th, 2009 | Uncategorized
Q: What would happen if someone wants to retire on Aug. 31, 2010 (service date), but his sick leave will give him three months’ credit. Can he retire three months early with the same annuity?
A: No. Unused sick leave never qualifies anyone to retire. It’s only credited after you meet the age and service requirements to retire.
Tags: annuity, credit, LEAVE, sick leave
Early outs and incentives
November 24th, 2009 | Uncategorized
Q: I retired back in February on an early out. Will we receive the incentive eventually that the union is fighting for all employees to receive? Plus, will we receive something for our unused sick leave?
A: I have no idea what incentive your union is fighting for; however, if they get it, it’s unlikely that it would apply to those who have already retired. The same goes for the unused sick leave credit for Federal Employees Retirement System employees. That credit is only available to those who retire after the effective date, and only half credit at that, until 2012.
Credit for sick leave
November 24th, 2009 | Uncategorized
Q: I transferred to the Federal Employees Retirement System from the Civil Service Retirement System during the 1998 open season. At the time of my transfer, I had accumulated 1,675 hours of sick leave. I understood at the time that the credit for sick leave to be applied toward my retirement would be the lesser of my balance at the time of my retirement or the 1,675 hours, whichever was less. This amount would be applied to the CSRS component. I now have 2,544 hours of sick leave accumulated. I have accumulated an additional 869 hours of sick leave since I transferred to FERS. Will I receive credit for the additional hours of sick leave accumulated toward the FERS component of my retirement calculations? I plan to retire in the spring of 2010. So I would assume that I would only receive half credit of the approximately 869 hours.
A: Your analysis is correct. Any unused sick leave that does not exceed the amount you had to your credit when you transferred to FERS will be applied to the CSRS component of your annuity; any hours above that amount will be divided by two and added to the FERS component.
Tags: credit, CSRS, FERS, sick leave
Unused military leave
November 17th, 2009 | Uncategorized
Q: I am preparing to retire under the Civil Service Retirement System. I believe that all of my ducks are in a row for this event, but there is one question that I have regarding leave benefits. I was a drilling Army reservist until I transferred to the retired reserve in 1998. I will be eligible for a pension when I turn 60 in four years. My question is in regard to the military leave balance that shows up on my leave and earning statement every payday. While working as a civilian employee, I was entitled to 15 days per year of military leave; if not used, that was carried over so that the following year 30 days was available. When I transferred to the retired reserve in 1998, that 15 days was still carried on the books. I will retire on January 1, 2010, with this accrued balance. I know that my annual leave (including that in excess of 240 hours) and my compensatory time will be converted to cash. Also, my sick leave will be tacked on to my length of service. What will be done with the 240 hours (30 days) of military leave? Does it just go away like use-or-lose travel compensatory time and excess annual leave; or, can it be converted to cash or extension of length of service?
A: It just goes away. It has no cash or retirement credit value.
Tags: cash, credit, CSRS, RETIREMENT
Sick leave calculation
November 17th, 2009 | Uncategorized
Q: I understand that President Barack Obama has approved Federal Employees Retirement System employees to receive service credit for unused sick leave. My question involves retirement prior to January 1, 2014, where an employee receives service credit for half of their unused sick leave. Does half of the sick leave have to be in whole months? Example: If an employee has 2,000 hours of sick leave upon retirement, this employee would have 11 months of service credit. At the half rate, would the employee be reduced to five-and-a-half months, or would the benefit reduce to five months (since only full months of leave count)?
A: At retirement, your unused sick leave hours will be divided by two, with half of them being added to any actual service hours that didn’t add up to one month. The total will be converted into retirement hours. This is done by dividing 2,087 — the number of hours in a work year — by 360, which represents 12 30-day annuity months. The result is a 5.797+ hour day and a roughly 174 hour month. After all the months are counted, any hours that are left over will be dropped.
Merchant Marine service
November 10th, 2009 | Uncategorized
Q: I was a former Merchant Marine cadet, and have been a Navy Reserve officer for eight years. I just started to work for the Federal Aviation Administration. I know the Civil Service/Federal Employees Retirement System handbook leaves out the Merchant Marine Academy as one of the academies eligible for military service credit, however, I have a “statement of service” in my Navy Reserve folder stating I was a midshipman in the Navy Reserve during those four years. The dates are also listed in my annual statement of service history. It does say that those dates are not creditable, but that is for military credit. Can I receive federal service credit for these years?
A: What was shown in your Navy Reserve folder doesn’t change the fact that attendance at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy isn’t considered to be creditable military service for retirement purposes.
— Reg Jones
Tags: cadet, credit, creditable, eligible, handbook, Merchant Marine, midshipman, Navy Reserve, officer