Working for Civil Service

I have always thought that working for the US Government as a civil servant, would be the way for some people to take early retirement. It sure worked out well for my cousin Tom. Both of my aunts were nurses and one worked for the veteran’s hospital and the other worked for the county hospital.

Differences between Government and Municipal Service

The aunt who worked for the vetern’s hospital was a true government civil servant. The other aunt who worked for the county had a job that had a lot of the same benefits and retirement as a civil servant, but she was not a true government civil servant. She was just like my cousin Tom. She worked for a municipality but she was not a governement worker in the true sense of the word.

If you entered Federal Service prior to January, 1987, you were covered under a plan known as CSRS or Civil Service Retirement System. These people do not contribute to Social Security and they don’t gvet any at age 66 or whenever.

Questions People Ask About Early Retirement

1. Who is eligible for early retirement?

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has authorized the agency to offer early retirement to eligible employees.  The agency may exclude employees in certain jobs that are critical to the agency’s operation.  The agency may revise the list of eligible employees before the early retirement window closes.  Unless you are excluded, you are eligible for early retirement as follows:

If you are under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), you must have served in a position covered by the CSRS for at least l year out of the 2 years immediately before retirement.   If you are under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), this rule does not apply.

You must be at least 50 with 20 years of service or have 25 years of service at any age.  At least 5 years must be civilian service, whether you are retiring under CSRS or FERS.

You must be serving under other than a temporary appointment.

2. What does the early retirement “window” mean?

Each agency sets a window, or period of time, during which eligible employees retire early.  Depending on the level of restructuring involved, this may coincide with the window during which buyouts are offered.  If you want to retire early, you must separate during this time period. Therefore, you must turn in your application as soon as possible to make sure you can retire during the window.

3. Can anyone who is eligible and who applies for early retirement be assured of retiring early?

Just as it does with buyouts, the agency may set a limit on the number of early retirements it offers.  This number should take care of all the employees who want to retire early and whose jobs are not essential to the agency’s continued operations.  If the agency receives more applications than it needs, the agency must use a fair objective method to make decisions, for example, order of separation date, order of receipt of completed applications, seniority, etc.

4. If I take early retirement, is my annuity reduced?

CSRS employees who retire under the voluntary early retirement authority will have a reduction in their annuity of 2 percent per year for each year they are under age 55.  (The reduction is 1/6 of 1 percent for each full month.)  This is a permanent reduction in annuity.

Employees with only FERS service will not have their annuities reduced under voluntary early retirement.  Employees with both CSRS and FERS service will have a reduction only for the CSRS portion of their service if under age 55.

Employees retiring under the MRA+10 provision before age 62 are subject to the age reduction on the entire annuity.

Special rules apply to the calculation of annuities of employees who have part-time service after 1986.  The personnel office can give you more details.

Jeremiah John

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