|
|
 |
|
|
 |
| Share |
 |
 |
Information on this page is provided by Roseanne Jefferson.
Roseanne is a retired USPS employee with an extensive background in USPS
retirement, disability retirement, OWCP, EEO, Labor Relations and HR.
She conducts individual and group counseling and is able to
comprehensively discuss the pros and cons of employees who are on OWCP,
disability retirement and regular retirement. Roseanne will be happy
to answer your postal retirement questions. Contact Roseanne at
roseanne.jefferson@icloud.com.
|
|
|
|
|
Postal Retirement
Q&A August 2013 |
Good Day Postal Employees!! Again
thank you all for the prayers for my
daughter. She has had her surgery and
is now undergoing more chemotherapy
and then will follow up with
radiation. We are very grateful for
all that have said a prayer or kept
our family in your thoughts.
For some reason this has been a very
active month in terms of my email
activity. Many of your questions are
very similar in nature, which says to
me that the unbelievable lack of
information is not isolated to one
district, or even one area but all
over. Many of you out there struggle
to find out information that is
contained at YOUR fingertips. I was
relating a story the other day when I
was doing a retirement about how we
(HR) would offer informational classes
(not just at the "Career Awareness
Conferences"�(talk about a blast from
the past), but either at a District
office or Plant. So many times
employees would only come if it was
HERE YA GO�."ON THE CLOCK"� These
classes were to designed to reinforce
what was told during orientation
(which all of us would obviously
forget) regarding retirement. It
amazed me how the majority of
employees would not take an hour or
two on THEIR TIME, to come and learn
about their retirement. One thing I
learned early in my career about the
post office�get ready�.�.THE ONLY
THING THAT REMAINS THE SAME
IS��CHANGE!! WHAT DID SHE SAY ABOUT
THE INFORMATION BEING AT OUR
FINGERTIPS�yes�.you need to go to MYHR
on liteblue and much of the
information you want to know about YOU
or your employment, is contained in
your eOPF. I HAVE SAID THIS MANY TIMES
BEFORE - YOU NEED TO REVIEW YOUR eOPF!!
We change and restructure more
than any other organization, in an
effort TO IMPROVE (our business)�.AND
TO SHOW A PROFIT (because we are the
only federal agency that has to). If
you think it-s any other reason�.
you-re wrong. The business goal for
Postal Service should be that and only
that�.improve what we do and show a
profit�PERIOD.
Q 1. Hi
Roseanne, I worked for the postal
service from 1966 till 1969. Upon
leaving the post office I withdrew
what I had paid in toward my
retirement. In 1973, I was reinstated
and when I retired Jan. 31, 2013 I had
a total of 42 years and 4 months .
This included sick leave of 1863
hours. I made a redeposit of 400.00
but not the full amount. I called OPM
about my money and the lady who
processed my paper work told me that I
would not get a refund. She told me
the money was applied toward my
retirement.I was told by someone who
worked in finance that I should be
refunded my money. Your help will be
appreciated.
A 1. YES something
is VERY wrong, don-t know precise
details of what it is, but something
is wrong. First, to pay OPM $400.00
EVEN, no change sends up a warning
sign to me. So, where did the $400
amount come from? Meaning did you send
in paperwork to HRSSC or was it done
years earlier when there were District
offices that had a Personnel Office
and had them send off to OPM to find
out the PRECISE figure of what was
"owed back to the retirement fund"?
That makes a difference as to
finding out what is the problem. There
could be a justifiable reason why OPM
told you that you would not receive a
refund versus someone in finance (what
finance office, the post office, the
district finance office, Eagan..which
one ??). For OPM to send you a refund
would indicate AN OVERPAYMENT. And
then next question would be, why in
the world did you NOT pay (the rest??)
back. Understand, you may not have HAD
to pay MORE than the $400, I am just
trying to wrap my head around what is
going on, so that I can give you some
advice. You are a CSRS employee, and
the MOST your retirement can be is 80%
of your high 3 average salary�.and you
achieve that 80%, when you have worked
41 yrs. 11 months. For you to be gone
for 3 years�perhaps with the $400.00
(payback) and the 42 years and 4
months (as w/added sick leave) maybe
in calculations not only do you not
get refund but you don-t owe any money
for the period of time that you left.
*Very little known info��you can be
paid more than 80%, IF you have the
41-11 and you have additional sick
leave, over and above what equals
41-11.
That is the only time
that a CSRS employee can earn more
than 80% in retirement. That being
said, based on that information, you
gave me and the information that was
given to you by OPM, you are not due a
refund. That employee in finance did
give you correct "general"
information, however, your case was
not "general" in nature. This is why
an overview is good depending on which
retirement system you are in. However,
when retiring this becomes ever so
personal and you want information
specific to YOU, not just general
information. But, OPM is correct. If
they weren-t I would tell you. Take
care, and have a very happy & deserved
retirement�.Roseanne
Q 2. Hi
Roseanne- My question for you requires
some background info. First I am
expecting to be retired in September
2013 with a disability retirement. I
am a FERS employee. I feel I
understand the disability rules well
and I feel comfortable knowing what to
expect save for one thing. I want to
withdraw my entire thrift and not roll
it over. Please understand I am not
asking for your advice or opinion on
the wisdom of this decision. What I
want to know is If I withdraw my
thrift (approx $125,000) will it have
an effect on my receiving OPM
disability retirement pension checks.
The reason I am asking this is because
I understand that I have income
restricitons while on OPM disability
and if I exceed 80% of my working
income I can lose my disability
pension. SO , to summarize my
question, If I withdraw my TSP funds
will that count towards income that
will case me to lose my disability
pension from OPM? Thanks- RL
A
2. Hi RL, I understand very well what
you are asking me, and you are not the
first person to ask this�.in fact I
will be addressing that in my column
this month�not exactly your question,
but similar.
Let-s take apart
the "income restrictions"�..You are a
FERS employee, consequently, you have
a 3 tiered retirement, 1-FERS;
2-SS/Spec Sup; 3- TSP. Your approval
for FERS disability retirement HAS
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING
TO DO WITH YOUR TSP money.
>>
>> Next, you can-t take TSP out, (at
least the way you described) until you
are retired (or off the roles)�and to
be retired either you meet the age &
years (and you don-t or I suspect you
don-t, otherwise you wouldn-t be
talking disability retirement, if you
could simply retire) OR you have
already been approved disability
retirement. So that takes care of that
question, because based on the way you
have "posed the question"�.you must
have been notified of an approval for
FERS disability retirement, because to
KNOW that you are leaving in Sept
2013, means that you have been
approved (and when approved for
disability retirement�the sick leave
is "USED" until it is gone.
>>
>> Typically you are approved for FERS
disability (1st), (and either approved
or disapproved for Social Security
disability�.because YOU KNOW YOU HAVE
TO FILE W/SOCIAL SECURITY in
conjunction w/FERS disability�BECAUSE
IT TOO is a part of your 3 tiered
retirement plan). Once approved for
FERS disability, you can do whatever
you want to do with your TSP�roll it
over, take it in monthly installments,
purchase an annuity, or in your case,
take it all out, and roll it over to
another financial vehicle. Does the
TSP fall under the "guise" of income,
yes of course it does�but has NO
bearing at all on your FERS
disability, and would NEVER cause you
to lose your retirement from FERS.
When OPM or SS relates information
about income restrictions�it is
speaking about income that you receive
from WORKING�TSP is NOT WORKING
INCOME, SS is NOT WORKING INCOME, FERS
is NOT WORKING INCOME. DO NOT CONFUSE
any retirement money with WORKING
INCOME..it is not. But do understand
that all income has to be reported at
the end of the year. I hope this has
helped you out with this question.
Roseanne
Q 3. Hi Roseanne, I
will be 57 yrs. old in 4 months, have
approximately 36 years of service -
CSRS - clerk craft employee. Approx 25
yrs of my career has been as a PTR
clerk (averaging 32 hours / week);
with 12 years full time (early in
career).
I received two CSRS
Benefit Estimate Reports that were
sent to me in 2009 & 2011. The net
monthly annuity between the two year
difference is $902.00 which doesn-t
seem right, plus some of the info at
the bottom portion of the "estimate
basis" was different. I called HRSSC
and they said because I was PTR more
than 1/2 of my career I need a manual
estimate and to basically ignore the
two sent to me. I feel that if my
annuity is close to the 2011 estimate
I could probably retire, but if it is
closer to the 2009 I-d have a hard
time. My Retirement SCD is 2/28/1978 -
so 35 years? I have 1463.90
accumulated SL which HRSSC said would
add about 8 months or close to 36
years of service. And have an AL
balance of 262.44 hours. These
estimates did not factor in health
(which I would take BC/BS family),
life or federal tax withholdings and I
would also choose some survivor
benefits. Other things mentioned were
high 3 being $52,882 on the 2011
estimate. On the 2009 estimate it said
"deemed" high-3 $50,256, and actual
high three $37,693 (which doesn-t seem
right) & 78% CSRS pt proration factor.
My hours as PTR were constantly
changing - usually averaging between
32 and 40 hrs per week, but my office
never cut new Form 50-s when my hours
changed and the one on record shows me
25 hrs / week. Does HRSSC use actual
hours or the Form 50 to do the
computations? I do not want to retire
but am facing some personal / health
issues. I noticed on a Q & A to
another person, you said if you have
the years in, retire - you get paid
about as much as if you worked. Could
you offer any advise and what are your
fees for counseling? Thanks for your
service. NM
A 3. Hi NM, Well
the first thing is�.I have been
writing about this situation of PTR
(Part-Time Regular) time and the
affect of it to your overall
retirement calculations. However, it
is true that when looked at it from a
management-s perspective, which of
course is fiscally driven, you working
a 30 hour week, & paying into the
retirement fund based upon those 30
hours per week, and the MATCHING
postal service-s contribution is
precisely for those 30 hours (again as
the example). It then it makes
"financial" sense, in that you ARE
being paid for and credited precisely
for those hours worked. That being
said�.you didn-t expect it and why
would you when the annuity estimates
(generated from a computer mind you)
allude to very different figures. (THE
why on that is because in order to
provide you with Basic Life insurance,
a yearly figure must be used in order
to calculate "how much basic life
insurance" you will have, that the
Post Office pays ENTIRELY FOR. The
proration factor in determining your
annuity is a bitch�.and they using it
to the fullest. As far as OPM
reviewing the hours to give a fair pro
ration, your financial records are
transmitted from Eagan to OPM for just
that reason�so they will see the
actual hours worked.
But to
solidify your question about your high
3�very simple, you need to look at all
the hours you worked for the year, and
that is including sick leave and
annual leave, to see how close you
come to 2080 (which is a full year (in
hours) of work). You are going to have
to do the leg work to make sure YOU
don-t get screwed�at least if it was
me, that is what I would do. AND you
really need to wait to review what the
annuity estimate says (based on the
pro-ration). IF you feel that your
monthly annuity it is way way off, and
that they have pro rated too
severely...then you may have to put
your "big girl panties on" and go toe
to toe with them. But you cannot do
that without having all of your
information! Once you get that, and
since you have the other 2, I can give
you the WHY. You may not like it..but
I can explain it. If you are
interested in me doing your
retirement, (Air Mail Retirement) or
if you are close enough and are going
to drive here, please let me know and
I will send info applicable to the
type of retirement you want. Roseanne
Q 4. I retired from the USPS
1/31/13. I just finished reading your
Oct 2012 column on FSA. Am I
understanding it right in regards to
my FSA, that if I opted for my 2013
FSA contributions to equal $800.00 and
I accured out of pocket health care
expenses for said amount by 1/31/13
but my pay period contributions only
equaled $123.00 I can only be
reimbursed for what I contributed.
Your insight on this matter would be
greatly appreciated. All in all my
USPS retirement process went fairly
smoothly and was wrapped up by 6/13.
It great to have the summer off :)
Thank you, A
A 4. Hi A,
Congratulations on your retirement,
it-s an accomplishment only those of
us who worked at the USPS (long enough
to retire) can only understand that
statement of
accomplishment�.regardless of your
position title. I will unravel
it�..but�..you do understand, that it
may mean NOTHING NOW (due to time
frames for submission). If during FSA
open season in 2012, you signed up for
a "SPECIFIC DOLLAR AMOUNT" for the
2013 year�(and worked in 2013, (and
you did, if you retired on 1/31)) you
ARE eligible to use ALL that money (in
your case $800) as long as you used it
by 1/31/2013 (the effective date of
your retirement).
Maybe if I
explain my case it sounds a bit more
logical. I signed up for FSA in 2008
for the 2009 upcoming year. For
argument sake lets say I signed up for
$2600.00 per year (back then, the max
was $5000.00 which is what I actually
did) Health FSA; which would translate
to $100.00 per pay period. So I
retired with an EAS early out, that I
was not expecting, and my retirement
effective date was July 31st 2009.
Although I only contributed $1300.00
to the FSA (13 pay periods), I was
able to USE ALL $ 2600.00�PROVIDED THE
EXPENSE WAS ON JULY 31, 2009 or prior.
So when I wrote that column,
there were several readers who wrote
and thought that my "insight" on how
this worked was somehow�crooked. But
it-s not, because it-s an "agreement",
and if you were to pay (as the example
above I use) $100.00 per pay period
for 26 pay periods�and in that year
you only had 1287.35 worth of "health
FSA" deductions�.the agreement is you
lose the balance of that $2600.00.
This is why they tried to make sure
you were very accurate in your FSA
because if you OVER ESTIMATE, you
stand to lose a bit of money that you
CANNOT recoup. I hope by the example I
gave, gives you the insight you were
looking for.
As far as, you
can only collect what you put in
($123) (not true)�but for this to work
you MUST be sure that the "bills" you
are turning in for payment HAD TO HAVE
THE MEDICAL SERVICE OCCURRING BETWEEN
JANUARY 1 AND JANUARY 31�.that is the
real issue. Roseanne
Q 5. Hi
Roseanne, I will be 56 yrs. the
beginning of this November. I have
been employed by the USPS since May,
1985. I have been off work since March
with severe depression, sleep apnea,
and several surgeries. My last surgery
was extremely difficult, as my foot
was "rebuilt". I had a torn tendon,
heel spurs removed, and he cut my heel
bone in half as well as having my arch
restructured. I am a SDO on the
workroom floor at the P&DC in my
district. They are have restructured
our plant and have made it a HUB. We
were instructed to bid jobs in "other
post offices" that are up to 75 miles
away. As my luck turned out� I got the
position as Supervisor at the farthest
one I bid on, which is 75 miles away
and on Tour 1. I tried it for two
weeks, but the drive, the size of the
Plant, and the mistrust of my new
employees was all too much for me. I
am considering Disability retirement.
My questions... If I file for
Disability, will I have to wait until
my claim is settled before I can
withdraw my TSP money? I have a
negative sick leave balance. How will
I be required to pay this back? Also,
if I am awarded SS disability also,
how will that effect my annuity? Thank
you so so much for taking the time to
consider my questions. SLC
A.
Hi SLC, Well first I can understand
your frustration and when you are not
at 100% the depression alone can be
debilitating. First are you on OWCP?
Do you have an OWCP claim�just a few
questions. Meaning is this foot
"injury" as a result of your job, and
you filed an OWCP claim. If you have
had all the surgeries and still you
are unable to do your job, regardless
of why or how you got the condition(s)
you can file for disability
retirement. They may try to talk you
into MRA+10�but don-t do that�it-s not
the best financial move unless you-re
in a very desperate situation.
Disability retirement is a viable
option for you that you should look
into. The information is below for you
to begin this process with HRSSC. See
below the instructions for filing for
Disability Retirement:
1. Call
HRSSC at 1-877-477-3273 and request a
"disability annuity printout" for
August 2013
2. Tell them you
want the "Disability Package" (which
is the first Blue Booklet)�VERY THIN
BOOKLET
THIS FIRST PROCESS IS
THE MOST IMPORTANT!!! HAVING THIS
FILLED OUT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME SO
THERE IS NO DELAY IN APPROVAL. MEANING
THAT THE PHYSICIAN(S) HAVE DONE A
THOROUGH NARRATIVE REGARDING ALL OF
YOUR MEDICAL CONDITIONS. THE NARRATIVE
FROM THE PHYSICIAN(S) NEED TO HAVE
STATED THAT YOU ARE UNABLE TO CONTINUE
TO DO YOUR "POSITION" (I WOULD EVEN
INCLUDE THE "LIMITED DUTY POSITION"
THEY HAVE PLACED YOU IN NOW).
THIS "BOOKLET" THAT YOU WILL RECEIVE
FIRST, IS REALLY JUST ONE FORM THE SF
3112 AND THE TWO PARTS IN THIS ARE SF
3112 A AND SF 3112 B. THERE ARE TWO
OTHER PARTS TO THE FORM SF 3112 C AND
SF 3112 D ( BOTH FORMS WILL BE SENT TO
YOUR DISTRICT, THEN THEY FORWARD TO
YOUR MANAGER, AND THEN FORWARD TO YOUR
SUPERVISOR FOR COMPLETION) YOUR ONLY
CONCERN IS THE FORM THEY SENT YOU.
As a FERS employee because you
have a 3 tiered retirement and Social
Security being one of the components
of your retirement means that YOU MUST
ALSO FILE FOR SOCIAL SECURITY
DISABILITY WITH THE SOCIAL SECURITY
OFFICE. THIS CAN BE DONE
ON-LINE. YOU JUST HAVE TO FILE TO BE
IN COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL RETIREMENT
PROCEDURES FOR OPM.
Once you get this first package gather
all your medical information, and have
each doctor complete a narrative (can
be as short as�.Based upon the medical
condition(s) it is my opinion as
his/her physician Mr/Ms. Postal
Employee is unable to perform the
duties and requirements of his/her
position as city carrier/clerk/PM/Supv�.etc
now, and it has been determined that
he/she will never be able to return to
this position)�pretty much like that
relating that you are unable to do
your job and the inability of being
able to do that job in the future .
(AS INFORMATION, IN THAT BACK OF THAT
FIRST BLUE BOOKLET IN THE BACK IS THE
JOB DESCRIPTION AND POSITION
REQUIREMENTS OF A CITY CARRIER�MANY
DOCTORS WILL USE THAT INFORMATION AS A
BASIS TO WRITE THE NARRATIVE AS IT
SHOWS JOB DUTIES. OF course you will
have to provide not just the narrative
but medical documentation that
supports all the physicians-
diagnosis, and prognosis. Once at OPM,
they will review and determine if you
have met the criteria for approval for
disability retirement.
THIS IS PART 1�.YOU WILL MAKE
A COPY OF THE NARRATIVES (BOTH YOURS
AND THE PHYSICIAN(S) AND MAIL TO
HRSSC.
Once that part is
completed, then HRSSC will send you
ANOTHER blue booklet, this time its
very large and is the actual
retirement paperwork. That should be
your course of action based on what
you have written me. Roseanne
Till we speak
again��.Roseanne |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
