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Postal Retirement
Q&A June 2014 |
Good Day Postal Employees!!
Several months ago, (and quite frankly for the
last year) I've been harping on reviewing your
eOPF's. Serious situations caused by improper
filing of forms, and generally what is and IS NOT
contained in your eOPF, was based on this case. I
explained a month or so ago, that the case was
resolved, and the widow had agreed to relate her
story in her words, to share her experience with
you so that you would not be in a situation like
she faced. Below are her words...
Dear
Roseanne, I would like to help others in the US
Postal Service to avoid the literal nightmare I
have been going through. I call it "DON'T LET THIS
HAPPEN TO YOU!"
My husband Dan was a
Carrier and had worked for the Post Office in
excess of thirty years. He and I were married for
fifteen years. A couple of days before we got
married, we went into the main Human Resources
office in our town. Dan filled out paperwork
adding me to his Health Insurance and completed a
new form for the Life Insurance making me his
beneficiary, as his new wife. He also doubled life
insurance by choosing 1 multiple of Option ‘B'. We
were married a couple of days later and the
premiums for the health insurance and the life
insurance started coming out of his paychecks.
I had many serious health issues including
cancer during our marriage and Dan took care of
me. He was also a very hard working and loyal
employee. Nearly two years ago, Dan wasn't feeling
well so he went to have some tests done. The test
results determined that he had cancer throughout
his entire body. This was devastating news. I had
been the one with the serious health problems and
my husband very rarely called in sick, so I had
always expected that he would long outlive me. One
month after Dan's initial diagnosis, my beloved
sweetheart passed away.
Along with the
numbness, shock and unbearable grief I was
experiencing, I needed to figure out what to do to
prepare for his funeral. A couple of weeks after
he passed away, I called OPM to report his death.
They told me he DID NOT have Life Insurance for
me! I knew he most certainly did, so I found the
copy I had in our files and faxed it to them. They
told me that was exactly what they needed and that
they would begin to process the claim. Per Dan's
instructions before he died, I also asked about
the compensation for the sick leave he had
accumulated. I was very flippantly told "Oh, no
one ever remembers to have employees change that
Beneficiary form when they get re-married." I had
no idea there was a separate Beneficiary Form
required to receive his final compensation. To add
insult to injury, I discovered that his previous
wife was going to receive the $15,000 that I
should have received.
I was unable to work.
I still owed the mortuary $8,500 for Dan's funeral
and I was under unbearable amounts of stress. I
called OFEGLI every week for months to find out
the status of his Life Insurance. I kept being
told there was a "discrepancy" in the paper work.
The "discrepancy" I was told was that the Life
Insurance Dan filed for me as his beneficiary had
supposedly not been sent to his electronic
employee file. After nearly a year, I discovered
that OFEGLI had another Life Insurance beneficiary
form on file from over twenty years ago that they
were considering paying. Every few months I
received a form letter from OFEGLI stating my case
was under review. I had lost my husband, had the
mortuary breathing down my neck and no source of
income. I was beside myself. As additional months
passed away, I discovered that the other supposed
beneficiary had been actively fighting me to
obtain the life insurance.
I ended up in
having to sell my husband's cherished collectibles
that were a part of our married life together, in
order to get the money I needed to retain an
attorney. This fight for the Life Insurance became
a full-time job for me. It took a huge toll on me
mentally, physically and financially. The
Insurance carrier, (after nearly two years),
decided they didn't want to make the decision as
to which beneficiary to pay, but rather turned the
funds over to the Federal Courts. Now it was up to
a Federal Judge to make that decision At that
point, I had to sign a contingency form agreeing
to pay my attorney a large percentage of the Life
Insurance if we won the case. There is no doubt
that Dan's intentions were to take care of me as
his wife. After nearly two years I am still
awaiting a final decision.
I implore you to
have everyone check their personnel files
thoroughly and on a regular basis. My husband had
no reason to believe there would be anything wrong
and he had completely trusted and expected that
Human Resources had done their job properly. I am
an example of what happens when mistakes ARE made!
I sincerely hope that by sharing this painful
story that I can spare someone else from having
this happen to them. Sincerely, Jill
HOPEFULLY A LESSON LEARNED TO ALL….ROSEANNE
Q 1. Roseanne, I found your email on
postalmag.com. My dad has been a full time letter
carrier for 28 years. He is currently 65 years old
and does not have a clue in terms of the
retirement benefits available to him. I am trying
to help plan his retirement and figure out what
his cash flows would be when he does. Can you give
be a quick brief on the different programs
eligible to him and direct me to some handbooks
etc? I appreciate any help you can provide. Thanks
again, -YD
A. 1. Hi YD, What a very nice
thing to do for your dad. The first thing you will
need to do is have his EIN number and perhaps his
PIN number for accessing information on the
internet. He has the ability to look at his
personnel file, thru a computerized system called
postal ease and liteblue. If you are looking to
review information in his behalf, there are
video's that you can review.
As far as how
much money he would get in retirement is
concerned, you would begin with calling HRSSC
(Shared Services) the centralized personnel office
for the Postal Service at 1-877-477-3273, and
requesting a retirement booklet and his annuity
estimate. You would ask for the month in which he
wants to be retired. So for example he says, I'm
not working the holidays this year…then you would
request an estimate for December, because your
last day of work would be Nov 30th, and you would
be an annuitant on December 1. HIs age of 65 with
more than 20 years gives him full retirement,
regardless if he is a FERS or CSRS employee; and
that too, his retirement plan, determines how to
calculate the monthly annuity. But by calling them
and once you received the annuity estimate in the
mail, you will see the gross monthly annuity, with
a spousal annuity or without, and that should give
you a very good start. Take care,,,,very nice
thing to do for your dad…really. Roseanne
R
1. Roseanne: Thanks for the quick reply. I will
ask my dad for the info and request the annuity
estimate, Take care YD
Q 2. Roseanne, I
hope it OK that I contact you. I am an "impacted"
Postmaster with only 7 1/2 years of full-time
service and will be 55 years old in a few months.,
and I and am a widow. In September I will have 8
years in. I recently sent in a letter to take a
PTF position with no set hours. I really do not
have many other options due to where I live. The
plant in XYZ City, STATE, is around 125 miles of
travel each day. My question is: How will this
affect me? I really do not have a lot of
retirement coming as of yet. I really need my
benefits and if I don't take something my job will
be ending either in September or if what I hear is
correct maybe as late as January 10, 2015. Also if
I take the PTF position will I still get to keep
my same benefits and life insurance since I will
be considered part-time? Any other information
will be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for
any help you can give me. LKS
A 2. Hi LKS,
Every answer I give is not always the same,
although I would imagine, that by reading what I
write, it may seem that way. One little thing can
change my answer(s)... But each answer has a
direct correlation with the employee's own
"certain set of circumstances". For you at your
age, and the number of years that you have so far
in the Federal Government, you really DO NOT have
much choice. In your situation, a job that is a
PTF may be your only avenue at this time to
maintain Federal employment. Having close to eight
years…and being a FERS employee, you really do
have to work until you are age 62 to have any real
substance with the FERS 3-tiered retirement
program. But if you do stay, (and I do think you
should), you should focus on maximizing your TSP
contributions. FERS retirement is based this way:
FERS = 25%; Social Security= 35%;
TSP=45%…so, even by staying as a PTF, as well as
MAXING on TSP, you could very well overcompensate
in TSP for the pro ration factor that you may have
by taking that PTF or (less than 40 hrs per wk
position). In your case, taking that position,
maybe your ONLY and therefore BEST choice.
Roseanne
Q 3. Hi Roseanne, I received a
letter from HR today stating that my life
insurance has been terminated due to LWOP for a 12
month period. When I filled out all my paper work
I chose to keep my life insurance in my disability
retirement. Should I just ride it out or should I
call HR see what they say. Thank you PRT
A
3. Hi PRT, Whenever an employee spends over 12
months in a Leave Without Pay status, this is
typical processing due to the amount of LWOP.
(When there is more than 6 months of LWOP in a
calendar year it begins to leave accrual and
retirement….just as information). When filing for
Disability Retirement, the carryover of your life
insurance and health insurance will convert, once
you have an approval by OPM. Since you are still
an employee, even though you have filed for
disability retirement, the fiscal issues of on
LWOP will take it's course. Once a disability
approval is granted, all will be financially
"sorted" out. You will owe for "your outstanding
portion" of the health insurance (and any life
insurance "options") that was paid by the PO
during the time of LWOP. But again, once approved
you will carry your life insurance and health
insurance INTO retirement with you. Roseanne
R 3. So I will probably owe them thousands of
dollars that I don't have for the life insurance
that they have paid. My husband has carried all
the health insurance. Will they demand payment or
will they work out a payment schedule? Hate to
have so many questions, the way they work they
probably won't even approve it. Some days I just
get so discouraged.
RA 3. NO, not
necessarily…it depends WHEN you are approved for
disability retirement. If they "back date" the
approval, meaning your last day in a pay status is
used as the "beginning date" of your "disability
status", then you may not owe much if anything at
all. Roseanne
RR3. Ok, thank you. Sorry to
keep bothering you but have been the most help of
anyone. Maybe when they get my letter we will know
something soon
Q 4. Roseanne, I have worked
36 plus years in addition to two years military
time I bought and additional sick leave which will
amount to 40 years of credited service this
September. I am an RIF impacted postmaster come
Sept 30. I've been told the Postal Service is
obligated to find us full time clerk or carrier
jobs if there are no postmaster jobs to go to. On
the other hand, I read recently in PB22344 dated
August 23, 2012 a reassignment offering could be
part time based on positions available come Sept
30. I am presently believing another two years of
work should increase my CSRS annuity another $250.
per month to stay on. My questions (1)If a full
time clerk position is not in the offering, would
I be better to stay on a couple of years as a part
time craft person to build up my annuity or would
I be negatively affected in my retirement benefits
in so doing? Question(2), as a CSRS future
retirement annuitant, would taking a full time
city carrier assistant position if offered benefit
me to build up the last two years in CSRS
benefits?. Question(3) , if I have the opportunity
to take a 6 hour RMPO postmaster job, how and will
this affect my retirement? Will my estimated
annuity build at or near the same pace as my
present assignment as a EAS-11? Given, the three
scenarios, which way would be the best for
retirement purposes, or would it better to retire
this September given the options stated above?
Thank JD
A 4. Hi Jeff, Well, rather than
give you the "what fer" ….meaning why are you
still there!!….what the 41-11? Is that what this
is about? Because you could have retired long ago.
I have no understanding why you are not!! Lets not
play games here…you have been around a LONG time…
and I would suspect you understand what is going
on here…but if you don't…..you are about to see a
"reduction" in what your overall high 3 average
salary is going to be…IF you take a position that
is LESS than 40 hours a week / 80 hrs
bi-weekly….flat out!!! It does NOT matter at this
point if its a clerk, mail handler, custodian,
carrier….as LONG AS iT IS A FULLTIME position.
Taking these bullshit PM 6 hour a day position
(masquerading as "sunsetting your career with less
hours" ) will degrade your overall high 3 average
salary…(which is what is used to calculate your
monthly annuity)).
So YES to answer #1 it
will degrade based on a "pro-ration" factor. Read
this month, and last month's column on this same
subject. NOW QUESTION # 2. OMG…….. you are killing
me……seriously, you want to retire from the PO, and
then be rehired as a part time craft person to
build up your annuity…OMG…In my HR world…you are a
nightmare (financial) beginning to happen…WTF!!
AND WHY!!! Let me read question 3…. and then I
will come back to this because right now…I don't
know why in the world with the number of years
that you have…..why you are pissin' around and not
retired yet….but…let me read # 3. OK # 3….HELL
NO!! if you have been reading my column for the
past few months, I have addressed this issue
several times…OR maybe you read my column and
thought that what I wrote was JUST for that one
person, not sure. Because this pro ration factor
that they are applying, is a "wholesale" answer to
all employees that have taken a position with a
set schedule of less than 40/80 hours
wkly/bi-wkly.
There are too many reasons
that question #2 is not even do-able. Once you
retire CSRS, then coming back as a career is going
to have your annuity reduced one dollar for every
2 earned…this is such a bad idea, and a nightmare
as it relates to placing you in "some type" of
retirement system…even if it's a non-career
position.
It totally screws up your
retirement. The ONLY job you can apply and be
hired for (in the USPS) once you are retired is
pretty much a TRC (Temporary Rural Carrier), and
there are time restraints on how much you actually
work (in this position title) without it affecting
your annuity, and that is NO MORE than 6 months in
a calendar year. If just ONE day beyond that 6 mo
time frame and then too, your annuity is
reduced….but this time dollar for dollar. Meaning
if your annuity is 3000 per month, and you have
worked beyond the 6 mo time frame, then if you
make 1600 in one month, that 1600 will be reduced
from the 3000. It is SO not worth it. If you want
to work, you can….anywhere other than federal govt
employment, and it NOT affect your CSRS annuity AT
ALL! This is NOT a good move in retirement. Is it
something that you can do within
regulations….yes….but just because you can does
not mean you should….really trust me on this. If
you write me and ask me my opinion…it's not JUST
my opinion on how I feel about it….it comes from
knowing and dealing with these same issues that
have almost in every case, turned out bad. OK that
was my 22 cents on that subject. RETIRE!! Roseanne
Till we speak again………..Roseanne |
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