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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.
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Postal Retirement
Q&A July 2013 |
Good Day Postal Employees!
This column will
begin again, with a sincere thank you
for all of the prayers and concern,
expressed for my daughter. We are on a
second phase of this horrible disease
cancer, and this is not an easy
journey, at all.
This month's
column and what you see below has me
speechless!! I would like to begin
this column by actually showing you
something I felt was very disturbing,
and a brand new "feature" at this
website. See if you caught what
floored me when I read it. |
 |
While on the phone this past weekend,
I was looking at the TSP website, to
get an overall picture of how much of
an "annuity" would be. As I had given
her the dollar figures of FERS and
Special Supplement, I proceeded to to
the TSP website, clicked on the icon I
ALWAYS DO. Something just looked
different, and to my utter shock�.. in
between the two blue i's reads "TO
WHAT AGE TO YOU EXPECT TO LIVE?" This
to me was appalling�that a government
calculator, a way to simply figure out
what one component of your retirement
money will be �asks YOU, basically,
give them an idea of when you think
you are going to die�they didn't even
ask you to ballpark it�they want just
one age�are you kidding me!! As a
federal (former) employee, this new
change to the TSP calculator will do
precisely what the change was intended
to do�frustrate you so you don't even
bother to try to figure it out.
AND you won't complain, won't let
your voices be heard on how ridiculous
and confusing this new calculator is
(if that is what you want to call it)
to determine your monthly annuity. Oh,
providing you give THEM an age you
think you will die. I guess I am
wondering if you are seeing a pattern
here. More lack of information, less
knowledgeable people to ask. Now - you
don't really have a on-site personnel
office, and the so called "tools" that
are "on-line" as they say, have made
the process of even trying to research
impossible. If I had not been going
into the TSP website for years, I
wouldn't have known just how
drastically it has changed in this ONE
AREA!!!! I would hope that this does
not go unchecked. It's a very easy way
to be BS'd about YOUR money�.Yea�.Its
YOUR MONEY!! This is not information
(TSP) that will be discussed on a
"HRSSC retirement session", nor will
Social Security, Medicare or the
Special Supplement�.because you if
don't care enough to complain, care
enough to know if your MONEY IS RIGHT,
when it comes time to retire you may
have wished you would of��just sayin'
Q 1. Good Evening Roseanne, My
husband just retired as of 5/31/2013
and we haven't heard from OPM yet, but
I have a question. Is our Life
Insurance Benefits, Dental and Medical
Insurance still in force until
premiums are taken out of our first
OPM check? Thank for your help. VT
A 1. Hi VT, Everything WILL transfer
over providing you filled out all the
paperwork, which was sent to you in
the blue retirement booklet. Your
Health Benefits AUTOMATICALLY transfer
UNLESS you do something to stop it.
Life insurance continues based upon
what you selected during the
retirement PHONE session w/HRSSC (& on
the form SF2818). That form was in
your big blue retirement booklet.
Hopefully, as tell everyone, you made
a copy of your retirement paperwork.
Check in those copies to see what you
selected for life insurance into
retirement, and congratulations on
retirement!!! Roseanne
Q 2.
Roseanne...the lady with all the
answers. I retired in January...all my
papers are in order..everything is
going smooth. I have a question about
my incentive check. The union stated
they would be deducting social
security tax on this check. Looking
over the check stub i see no deduction
for fica. I 'm confused did they make
a mistake or am I missing something?
Who can I call to find out?
A
2. Hi, The first thing would ask
is�.where is/was the check from? OPM;
Postal Srvc? I say from the Postal
Service, I would inquire with other
retirees to see if they had SS
deducted from their checks ( and I
suspect no). But you wanted the lady
with the answers�so here is my take on
this: Knowledge of the system(s) and
how they work, my 30+years in this,
and intuition tells me flat out
NOT�.they would not be taking SS out
of the incentive checks..but you
probably would like to know why I say
that. Because it's too much work to
segregate FERS and CSRS retiree''s as
only FERS employee's have Social
Security taken from their check..CSRS
employee's/retiree's didn't and don't
pay into the Social Security fund.
They are only going to do what takes
as little as "input" as possible. This
is the same reason why OPM does not
take out state taxes out for those
retiree's who live in state's that tax
federal annuities�.It's now really
YOUR responsibility. Look at it this
way, the federal government is NOT
going to set up state tax's for all 50
states.
Q 3. I sent this to
your yahoo address: Hello Roseanne, I
retired from the Postal service on
06-01-2013, as a FERS employee. On
June 6, 2013 I went and picked up my
final check, (they would not direct
deposit it). My earned annual leave
balance wasn't included on that check.
The supervisor who gave me the check
told me that it would be issued at a
later date. The retirement paperwork
that I received from Human Resources
stated that my earned annual leave
balance would be included on my final
check until some was amiss. I am
wondering what the heck the deal is.
Any experience regarding this
situation? Thank you in advance..
A 3. Hi - I wrote about this same
exact issue, let me quote from my
article in the February 2013 column of
postalmag: "There are many changes
that have taken place over the past
few months as it relates to
retirement. I am here to tell you the
truth, it may not be what you want to
hear, but it's the truth. First, the
changes that have taken place have to
do with your last paycheck and earned
annual leave when you retire. For
years, like clock work, your last pay
(or what ever few work hours you had
in the last pay period) and your
earned annual was paid to you on the
payday after you left. That last check
is a paper check, not deposited into
your checking account because there
was/is no connectivity between you and
the post office any longer after your
retirement form 50 was/is cut. That
last pay check was sent to your
employing office for you to either
pick it up, or have it mailed to you.
I call that OLD SCHOOL. The brighter
stars in the post office have decided
that since "some employees" and I do
mean "JUST some" have retired owing
the post office money, and due to
those few, they are now holding those
last pay/annual leave checks
approximately 30 days or so, to see if
you owe them 15 cents! They are still
paper checks, you still have to pick
them up, but now you need to call (I
would every Friday) to see if your
last pay check is at your employing
office for pick up. The employees that
owe money range from window clerks who
retire with "short" cash drawer, or if
you retired in July, and used all 208
hours advanced to you in the beginning
of the year (that if you retired in
July you were only eligible for 104),
or maybe were advanced leave (way too
rare but possible) and used it, and
then retired. OLD SCHOOL, in that case
they would go to OPM, so that OPM
could collect the money from the
annuity to pay back the post office,
or hold the paycheck until you pay the
discrepancy, and then the check would
be released to you. Now you have to
wait an additional 2-3 weeks to get
your last pay check. JUST delivering
the message!! I am so sure no one told
you that... but that is how it is now.
Since I can remember, this was how
last pay was handled. It gave you some
breathing room in terms of money,
waiting for the interim checks to
begin from OPM. Many of you have spent
years trying to gather sufficient
leave, so that you would have a
financial cushion when retiring,
knowing that there is a delay in the
"Interim Checks" from OPM. But at no
time, has the delay been as bad as it
is now. You have ONE office handling
thousands of retirements, and the
numbers of employees that work in
RETIREMENT at HRSSC is a very small
number, too small to tell you, without
you all flipping out! But I suppose I
don't have to tell you that... how
many of you really got that phone call
back from them, when you left your
phone number because no one answered
the phone, and required you to leave a
call back number??? No need for me to
tell you... you all tell me the horror
stories". So that is what I wrote in
February, and this information still
holds true. Roseanne
Q 4. Hi my
name is H. and my Dad has been retired
from the Post Office for many years.
He has just gone into a nursing home
and we are now applying for medicare
for him. We have been advised to have
the Post Office stop taking out fed
taxes from his pension. How do we go
about this? Is there a form we can
request? If so how do we get the form?
Also we were told to get a statement
that breaks down his pension payments,
to show whatever is taken out of it?
How would we go about getting this as
well. Thanks in advance for any help
you can provide.
A 4. I am not
sure how this would or could occur
that OPM would "suspend" or stop
taking federal taxes out of his
pension check. I will assume this
question being posed to me because
with your father, being in a nursing
home, and the application for "medicare
Part B", ( I assume) means that his
retirement check or pension is being
entirely used for his daily care, and
perhaps turned over entirely to the
nursing home�maybe? I am not familiar
enough with this to give you
guidance�I just, (from my experience)
I don't think that OPM will NOT take
any taxes out,although it is possible.
Nor do I know if or how they would
"redirect" an annuity check, say to a
nursing home. I have never dealt and
would appreciate you keeping me
updated on how this turns out. But
your first order of business is to
start with OPM. Their phone number is
1-888-767-6738. That office is in
Boyers, PA. There is also the HQ
office in DC, but start with this
phone number first. Your father has an
CSA number, that identifies him with
OPM. Not knowing how old your father
is or if he ever went "on-line" to do
any financial changes with OPM, it
probably would not do you any good to
look for his blue and white pamphlet
from OPM (which was mailed to him
after he retired with information for
just this purpose). It really contains
the same contact information I am
giving you here. Good luck, and please
let me know how this turns out. Also I
am going to assume your father was a
CSRS retiree, and just so you know,
there is a basic life insurance
"policy" that he has a retiree.
Provided he is over 65, it is free.
This is just as information in case
you did not know. Be assured, OPM has
all this information. Roseanne
Q 5. Hi Roseanne, I hope your daughter
is doing better. That illness is so
hard, feeling so helpless. A positive
attitude has helped me immeasurably.
I'm a cancer survivor since 1974 with
three serious bouts (1974, 1997, and
1999). With the right doctors and
treatment as well as support from
family and friends, I believe in
success Now for my question. I cannot
believe this can be true. A supervisor
was telling me she planned to work 15
more years to get to 43+ years. When I
asked why, she said she would get 85%
of her salary in her pension. I asked
if she was CSRS and she said no, FERS.
She said that FERS retirement changed
recently and you can get up to 85% of
your salary. I told her I knew about
the change to sick leave accrual for
50% until the end of the year and full
credit beginning 2014. I told her I
only knew about 1% per year unless you
retire at age 62 or older with 20
years, then it's 1.1%. Not that I plan
to work for 43 years, but is there any
truth to her information. Thanks again
and I wish all the best for your
daughter.
A 5. First
congratulations on being a survivor, I
see the battle almost first hand, and
can only be amazed at all of those
that have the strength it takes to
fight this fight. AS - to your
question�.As always most of what I do
is generally tell people they are
wrong (as it relates to what they
think or talk about federal
retirement); and in this too, that is
bad information. Even CSRS retirement
has a cap of 80%. You are correct 1%
and after age 62 it's calculated at
1.1%. Again there are alwaysexceptions
to the rules, as an example if a CSRS
employee had over 41 11 and then had
over 1.5 yrs of sick leave, in that
case then YES, the calculation would
be about 83% of that employee's high
3. Take care, Roseanne�������Till we
speak again��..Roseanne |
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