Q & A
I have been told by the Office of Personnel Management that if I postpone my retirement until age 60, I would be penalized for every year I am under 62 and will not be eligible for the special retirement supplement. I am 59½ with more than 28 years in the Postal Service. Our facility is consolidating, and our jobs are at stake. I am a clerk and do not want a carrier position because of my health. I plan on retiring in February to reach my 60th birthday. If I don’t accept a carrier position, can I: 1. Take an involuntary discontinued retirement; or 2. Retire and postpone my annuity until 60 I want to receive the special retirement supplement and no penalty on annuity.
Answer: If you waited to retire until you reached age 60, you’d receive an unreduced annuity and the special retirement supplement. If you retired before age 60, you’d be retiring under the MRA+10 provision. As a result, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year you were under age 62. While you could postpone the receipt of your annuity to a later date to reduce or eliminate the age penalty, you wouldn’t be entitled to the special retirement supplement. If you were offered an opportunity to retire early by your agency, you would not only receive an unreduced annuity but also the SRS.
There is only one way that you could continue your Federal Employees Health Benefits enrollment. That’s by retiring on an immediate annuity. If you retired on an immediate annuity and postponed its receipt, you could re-enroll when you annuity begins.
Source: Reg Jones, FederalTimes.com – December 5, 2013