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. Click here for prior Q&As and Click here for Q&As prior to July 2014.

Good Day Postal Employees!!

LET’S ALL COME TOGETHER IN SOME WAY FOR TEXAS HURRICANE HARVEY VICTIMS

Q 1. Hi Roseanne, I am retiring after 34 years and 7 months under civil service. (Not waiting for what may come next year.) I was told, I should retire on the 1st of the month. Planning on leaving Dec 01, 2017. Does that mean my last day of actual work would be on Friday Dec 01, 2017. End of the work week, or Nov 30 2017. Thanks in advance for info. G

A 1. Hi G, Yes you are correct….if you retire on Dec 1, that is day 1 of the next pay period (2017), and IS your last day on the rolls and is an actual work day. In my opinion, you should retire on Nov 30th. Now, you can retire on the first, but there is no “logical” reason why you should. And it makes more sense to end your postal employment as close to the end of the pay period as possible. Roseanne

Q 2. Hello and thank you for considering my question. Was that picture (on the website) taken at the Naples Pier? Facts: 60 male, 19 yrs, 4 mo. postal employment, FERS, Retired Nov 30-2016. Military Retirement- 1994 – present. VA disability; Social Security Disability (SSDI) granted back dated to Feb 2016. Aug 2016 – present receiving payment. My Question. Do or should, I apply for disability retirement from USPS service. Nov 2017 is end of 12 month window.

A 2. Hi Mark, Not sure if its the Naples pier…but we were in Destin FL when that picture was taken. Well – at age 60 with 19/4 and 8 months to go reach full retirement….the likelihood of being able to have OPM approve your case before age 60/20 seems slim. But let’s say that does happen and you get all that medical documentation…then applied for (sent to HRSSC) and then mailed to (OPM) and then wait for the panel of physicians at OPM to approve…….(and to keep within regulations….you must ALSO file for SSDI..).

Now, keep in mind, even if you are approved for disability retirement, when you turn 62, OPM will recalculate the FERS retirement monies again, as if you worked until age 62. One thing that is most important to understand…once you reach eligibility….then you are INELIGIBLE for disability retirement. So you see why the 8 months in your case is crucial to even being able to apply. Once you reach that 60/20, you are then no longer eligible for disability retirement…you are able to fully retire. I hope that has helped. Roseanne

Response: I think what I wrote was missunderstood from my information.

I am retired as of nov 30, 2016.

I am receiving retired military also

I am 90% disabled by Va.

I received in May 2017 SS Disability. In the letter it back dated my disability to Feb 2016. First Payment received in June 2017. Now it’s August 2017. It appears that there is no point in applying for disability retirement with opm/usps now. Due to 62 in feb.

Special note. I owe and am repaying $8,000 of advance sick leave granted in 2016. I was unable to work. I am severely limited in standing. That is why 19 years 4 months usps. Destin is east coast.

Roseanne…..Okay……….

Q 3. PLEASE ANSWER THIS QUESTION, WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR THE SUPPLEMENT? IS IT TRUE YOU CAN BE 60 YEARS OLD WITH 20 YEARS OF SERVICE OR IS IT 25 YEARS OF SERVICE?

My MRA is 56, I will be 53 this year, and at that time (56), I will have 20 years. When will I be eligible for the supplement? HOW IS the supplement calculated? Would appreciate any information you can provide. Thank you in advance. B

A 3. Hi B, First you must be a FERS employee (versus CSRS). You are only eligible for the supplement if you meet the requirements of age 60 with 20 or more years of “credible” service OR your MRA and 30 or more years of credible service. For the special supplement, OPM uses the amount in your Social Security “account” to determine how much the supplement will be. Roseanne

Q 4. As I near the one year anniversary of my retirement, first I want to thank you for the counseling you did for me last Sept. I do my best to sing your praises and steer folks your way. Retirement is great! Now, on to my question-

Many folks in a fb group are planning on going out on their birthday /anniversary date, or in other words the very day they become fully eligible. When I see this, I remember you telling me I had to work the entire month if I went out like that. I stayed on the books an extra month just to cover my bases. When I see someone post that, I post a link to your blog where you advise that they HAVE to work that entire month that makes them fully eligible.

What are the consequences of retiring on the day that makes one fully eligible to retire, rather than working that entire month? I ask because today I see where someone posts this- “I retired last year, the day before my birthday, I was turning 56. At that time, I had 31 years 7 months of service. I get the supplement but I did have to wait a month and a half for my first check. I planned for it. ”Now I’m confused”. What did this person lose by not working that entire month they were first fully eligible? Thanks for all you do. BD

A 4. Hi BD, Keep in mind, your retirement was “tailored” to you, so you had an advantage many don’t. If you are turning your MRA..(& have 30 or more years…) or age 60 (& have 20 or more years), you need to complete that entire month that you became eligible. Why…because some employees (who have written me), who turned their MRA (example June 17, and retired (example June 27th (because it was the end of the pay period)) were not (according to OPM) eligible for the Special Supplement & didn’t receive it, because they didn’t complete of the month of their eligibility. That’s why.

If something so valuable financially, requires you to work until the end of the month, after you have already worked 20 or 30 years, why is this such an issue, for assurance of eligibility (for the Spec Supp.). Keep in mind that isn’t the case in EVERY retirement, because mostly…employees don’t retire on the month of their eligibility. I hope this has cleared that up.

Imagine me knowing that, and not sharing THAT. This what many OTHER retirees have written to me. Keep in mind I am a CSRS so it’s not that I would know personally, but through all of the readers out there who are willing to share what they were told by OPM why they didn’t get the Special Supplement. Then, if the employee loses eligibility for the Spec Supplement they have to wait until 62 for Social Security. That could be a very lean 6 years.

So again I say imagine me knowing this and not sharing it……IT IS why I do what I do!! Roseanne

Q 5. Roseanne, I’m going to retire on August 31, 2017. On August 22nd I received a PS Form 50, that changed my RCD from 11/22/83 to 5/29/84. This is six months that they reduced my total service. I was called up for service during Operation Desert Storm and they are just telling me now that I have to buy it back to get credit. First, I disagree that I have to buy back that military time because I was in a non-pay status, which under title 38 USC I’m entitled to that time towards retirement. Second even if I wasn’t and did have to buy it back I ‘m unable to because of the time frame. Question do I have to buy back this time? How can I get the opportunity to do so if I do, is there extensions? Thank you. Help JAE

A 5. Hi JAE, Without ALL pieces of information, I will try to answer this for you. I suspect that you also received a form in the mail titled RTR Report. (If not, go NOW to your eOPF and find an RTR form..(everyone should have one). That should show the “why’s of this (changed SF Form 50 Personnel Action).

That report is computerized to analyze the military and federal employment, so that RCD and ACD dates are correct, as well as you being in the correct retirement system. Keep in mind, that when you were in Operation Desert Storm….you weren’t putting “retirement funds” into FERS, nor was the Agency….so to get credit for that time, you have to “fund” those 6 months. They do give you an opportunity to pay it back. I want you to know that those 6 months may play a huge impact on being eligible for the Special Supplement, not knowing what your age is or the total number of years you have. Roseanne

Q 6. Hi Roseanne, Thanks for taking the time to read my email.

After I retired from the Clerk Craft last year a new contract was arbitrated which resulted in retroactive pay raises. So the high 3 the OPM calculated for my annuity is now incorrect. The last 6 months of my high 3 calculation is actually higher with the retroactive pay raise. I have wrote to OPM and sent in all the documentation I could concerning the old pay scale and the new pay scale covering my last 6 months of work. I received back a two sentence form letter and a page on how my high 3 was calculated. It was exactly the same as their original annuity calculation. No mention was made of my retroactive pay raise over the last 6 months I worked or all the documentation I sent in.

Do I have any recourse? It probably is only an increase of $10 a month but still don’t want OPM keeping what I should be receiving. I also think with the amount of clerks that retire every month there are a lot like me who are being shortchanged. Thank you, Sincerely DBO

A 6. Hi DBO, Even if you sent me all the “actual figures”…I am sure that the 6 months of an increase, would not change the Hi-3 average salary enough to really make that much of a difference when calculating the retirement. But it absolutely would NOT be $10.00 additional per month..much much smaller. I know this is not what you wanted to hear. And you can do this yourself to figure it out, and you will need to see it on paper, before you will be OK with it. Once you see how little the change is……in my opinion without any figures….I would say less than 5.00 per month…more like 2 or 3 dollars per month. Roseanne

Final Response: Hi Roseanne,

Thanks so much for the quick reply. Wow, you stay up late. I’ve always been pretty good at math so I did the calculations and it would be a $6 increase. My high 3 would go from $56374 to $56482 – an increase of $108. And with my 35 1/2 years service and reduction for survivor annuity, my monthly amount would increase from $2865 to $2871.

I know its only $6 but I would love to have a free foot long sub from Subway every month with that $6 extra. Ha. But that’s just me. And with all the computers now it seems like it should be a simple plug in fix. Anyway, thanks again for responding so quickly. I’ve contacted the APWU retirees department too and they are going to get back with me. They said this happens about every 3 or 4 years because just about every new contract takes so long to settle that there is always back pay. DBO

Till we speak again……..Roseanne