“I turned 62 yrs old in January, and I have been waiting for my annuity amount to increase. Instead I got an 80% deduction in my annuity amount. I have a combined 24yrs + 5 months yrs of service/time on disability retirement. My disability claim from Social Security was denied and I never got Social Security disability benefits. What kind of benefits am I supposed to get now?

Reg’s Response

Here is the procedure used when a FERS disability retiree reaches age 62: Your FERS disability benefit would be recomputed. An artificial retirement benefit would then be calculated as if you had worked to age 62. Therefore, actual service would be added to the time spent on the disability rolls to age 62. The total time would then be multiplied by 1.1 percent. The total percentage amount would be multiplied by your high-3 salary at the onset of your disability, increased by all FERS cost-of-living adjustments payable from that time to age 62. As a rule, the amount you receive after the conversion should be close to what you were receiving as a disability retiree. Since I have no idea why your annuity was reduced, you’ll have to check with OPM.

Got a question for the Federal Times expert? Send inquiries to: fedexperts@federaltimes.com.

Reg Jones, a charter member of the senior executive service, is the resident expert on retirement and the federal government at Federal Times. From 1979 until 1995, he served as an assistant director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management handling recruiting and examining, white and blue collar pay, retirement, insurance and other issues. Opinions expressed are his own.

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