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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@yahoo.com. |
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Postal Retirement
Q&A June 2012 |
Good Day Postal Employees:
Well, well, well VERA is
in the house!! We have a few early
outs, Postmasters (in specific office
grades); some HQ employees; mail
handlers and the every increasing
talks for clerks...and so a reader
writes me and asked "how do you know,
what you know? Because everything you
said about the early out VERA's like
"giving years" to add to either age or
years of service, you said would not
happen, why did you say that, and how
did you know that"?
This is
true I have repeatedly said to folks
writing me and even had comments in
the column that said, "I don't see
them giving years, but I do see an
incentive". Why, because of the entire
retirement structure, that's
why...money is easy to do, incentives
are just the Big Bucks that they would
have paid in your benefits anyway if
you stayed employed and they did not
offer the early out...no huge
financial loss for the PO. Look you
all just got your Personal Statement
of Benefits...doesn't it look like you
make a whole lot more than you do???
But the cost to the USPS is just that,
because of how much they pay towards
employees' benefits. But to change or
alter an entire federal retirement
structure, just to accommodate the
USPS...please give me a break, didn't
happen, won't happen!
Q 1.
Could you answer this question for me?
I have 28.5 Years of service with the
USPS as a city letter carrier. I am
under the CSRS and if I retire right
now what is my penalty? Also, do I
have to pay clothing allowance back
with anniversary date of 3-28. What
happens to my S/L A/L thrift savings
plan? I'm 58 yrs old and can't take it
anymore. Thanks!!! Sincerely, BURNT
OUT
A 1. Hi Burnt Out..I too am
a CSRS and I retired (under VERA
2009), I was 56, with 26.5 years. I
suffered no reduction for age, since I
was over 55, and was paid for 26.5
years of federal service. Your SL is
calculated into your total years of
service, your annual leave is paid
(but only the earned annual, not the
advanced). Your TSP is a separate
entity and you will deal with them
directly. Roseanne
R. Thanks
Roseanne for your information. Really
don't know what to do next. Between a
rock and and a hard place. The way the
USPS is pushing, I'm hardly able to do
it anymore. Its a shame!!! Is it that
hard to say go if you want to go? I
will not go for disability. Enough
venting. Thanks again!!!! Burnt out
Q 2. Hi Roseanne, Thank you so
much for your website!! I have a
question I hope you can answer for me.
I retired from the postal service on
February 24, 2012. I have received
interim payments. The amount I receive
is about $300.00 less than my
estimated retirement annuity provided
by the post office. Will I be paid the
difference? Also how much longer will
it take OPM to finish my retirement
paperwork?
Thank you,JM
A 2.
Hi JM, The "interim" check is about
70-80% of what your NET check is going
to be. Sometimes when looking at the
annuity estimate and it says, for
example, 1500 per month. After health
benefits, life insurance, federal tax,
(in some states state tax), are
deducted, the net would be around
800-1000 per month. So using 1000.00
as the example, 70-80% of 1000 is
700-800 per month. Again this is just
ONE example of what it would look
like. It will take about 3 or 4
interim checks, and then you will get
a settle up check after all the months
are reviewed and you will be paid the
amount that was shorted over the 3-4
month period of time. After that, you
regular check begins to come and then
you get a small blue pamphlet, that
outlines your entire retirement. I
hope this has helped clear up some of
those issues. Roseanne
Q 3.
Dear Roseanne, I know that my
contributions to my CSRS are listed on
the bottom right of my pay stub. How
would I find out what the USPS
contributions to my CSRS are? Thanks S
A 3. Hi S, they are IDENTICAL, to
your contributions, you just never see
them. Roseanne
Q 4.Do you know
what an RTR report is?? It appears in
my employee file and no one can seem
to answer this question. Thank you L.
A. 4. Hi L, An RTR report is
several things. First there are more
than one RTR report(s). But most
likely the one you are referring to is
the Retirement Thrift & RIF Correction
Report. That is typically in
everyone's file. It is a computer
generated form that is used to
determine precisely how much federal
time you have. Although the title of
this one report is "Retirement Thrift
& RIF Correction Report" it does not
necessarily mean that it was done to
"correct" anything, it just happens to
be the title of the report. There are
several other RTR reports I have run
in my prior job, but the one I
mentioned is no doubt the one you are
referring to. Roseanne
Q 5. I
have been with the Postal Service
since Sept. of 1983. I was a PMR with
no benefits. Then in Sept. of 1988, I
was made to resign as PMR and be
re-instated as Postmaster of a level
11 office. In July of 2011 another
route was DUO'd into my office. I then
had to go through quite a bit to
finally get my office raised to a
level 13. I finally contacted NAPUS. I
don't know if they interceded but my
office was raised to a level 13,
effective in October of 2011. Now with
the new Post-plan, my office is
scheduled (according to the list
online) to be reduced to 4 hours per
day instead of 8 as it is now. The way
I understand it, we Postmasters are
supposed to be able to keep our same
pay and benefits for 2 whole years, no
matter how many hours they lower our
office. After that, the way I
understand it, there will be a RIF.
Then it sounds to me like I will be
out of a job. My options now appear to
be to try to apply to a higher level
office where there is a vacant
Postmaster position, take the buy-out
(tiny as it is) and early retirement
(with a reduced pension), or sit tight
until the RIF. I do not want to go to
a higher level office as Postmaster. I
would like to take the early
retirement but it doesn't seem like
very much money to live on for the
rest of my life. I am 56 years old. I
will be 57 in October of this year. If
I wait two years until the RIF takes
effect, supposedly in June of 2014, I
will just over 58 1/2 years old. Not
old enough to start drawing from my
TSP. It also sounds to me like the
supplement for SS they pay you until
age 62 is a reduced amount than you
will actually receive from SS at age
62. I am also concerned that my USPS
pension will mostly go to pay health
insurance. I have many questions and
do not know where to start. I found
your site online and decided I would
begin by asking you. Thank you very
much for your time. D
A 5. Hi
D, Everything that you said about the
retirement is true. When an office is
or you are reduced to a lower grade
(not due your own 991 or attempt to be
in another position) then yes, there
is the 2 yr saved grade. With 24 years
you will only draw 24% of your high 3
average salary. AND with 24 years you
are looking at about $600-$650 per
month as the special supplement. So I
do understand your reluctance to
retire with this early out. But on the
bright side you do get to keep your
health and life insurance, which is SO
valuable and still work another job
should you want to. As far as you not
being old enough to draw your TSP,
that's BS. I was 57 when I retired and
I drew my TSP. This 59 1/2 issue comes
up all the time, but if you go to
tsp.gov and read the information you
will see you can draw it as long as
you are retired. Roseanne
Q
6. Hi Roseanne, Just a quick question
,I received my Personal Statement of
Benefits-2012 the other day. At the
bottom of the page it says total
creditable service is 35 years and 4
months. It then states for optional
retirement under CSRS you will receive
an annuity equal to approximately 66%
of your average high -3 salary. My
question is I thought for each year of
CSRS service worked, is equal to 2%
for each year worked minus sick leave,
if so why is it only 66% for 35 years
and 4 months and not 70% (2 x 35= 70)
? Thank You, B
Q 7. Hi
Roseanne, My name is Joe and my
question is if I have an outstanding
loan at retirement how does that
effect my pension? Do I keep making
payments or do they take them out of
my check? Does the loan have to be
paid at once? I need to get a loan
from my tsp and retirement is less
than two years. Any help is
appreciated. Thank You J.
A 7.
Hi Joe, I suspect you mean a TSP loan,
I will assume you are a FERS employee.
Your pension, as you refer to it, is
the FERS annuity. Your TSP has NO
bearing on that component of your
retirement, as it has no bearing on
Social Security money. When you
retire, and you have an outstanding
loan, you will be taxed HARSHLY. I
would suggest that you call TSP at
1-877-968-3778 so that they can
explain how an outstanding balance
would affect you should you retire
early. My suggestion is always pay it
off before you retire, it's just messy
when you don't and costs you BIG. So
in effect, yes it can be done, but you
take a serious financial hit, if it is
not paid before you retire.....call
them, so at least you know what will
be in front of you should you take the
loan and retire. Roseanne
Q 7a.
Thanks for the info Roseanne. I was
talking about the TSP loan. However, I
am CSRS, does that change anything?
A 7a. Yes, it does change the
answer, because as a CSRS annuitant,
TSP really is a bonus (for us CSRS
employees). The payback is still
crushing like I said, but it's not a
part of your retirement, like it is
for a FERS employee. Roseanne
Till we speak
again...Roseanne |
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