Expert's View

The number of employees who are planning to retire in the near future has increased greatly. If you are among them, you not only need to think about the service credit you’ve accumulated on you current job but on all jobs you’ve had since you began working. You’ll be surprised at how many of them can be added to your regular CSRS or FERS service and used to increase your annuity.

Once you’ve jotted those jobs down, go to your personnel office and check your Official Personnel Folder (OPF) to make sure that it contains every bit of service that is creditable.

Creditable service? What’s that? You’ll find the answer in 5 U.S. Code 8332. That’s where Congress has spelled out the kinds of service that count toward retirement. The fact that this section of the law covers several pages is a good indication of just how many different jobs are eligible for inclusion in determining your length of service and used in your annuity computation.

Among those are such obvious ones as active duty in the armed forces. Also included are substitute carrier work for the Postal Service, service with Peace Corps and Vista, volunteer service under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, and employment as a United States Capitol Guide.

Some of these periods of service are creditable only within specific time periods, while others aren’t. You’ll need to check with your personnel office to see if your work experience can be counted. And if no retirement deductions were taken from your pay, you may have to make a deposit to the Civil Service Disability and Retirement Fund to get credit.

Depending on when the service was performed and which retirement system you are in, you may only get credit for the time in determining your length of service (that is, whether you have enough service to qualify for retirement at your age), but not have it used in your annuity computation unless you make a deposit. In others you won’t get any credit for either purpose unless you make a deposit.

Also creditable is employment covered by another federal retirement system, such as TVA or the Foreign Service, as long as you aren’t receiving any retirement benefits for that time under the other system. To receive credit, you’ll have to get a refund of your contributions and deposit it, with interest, in the civil service retirement fund.

Whether or not you are thinking about retiring, now’s the time to get your service record in order. Don’t put it off until you’re ready to walk out the door. Waiting until the last minute can not only keep you from getting credit for some service but can delay your first annuity payment – sometimes for a long, long time – until your work history is sorted out.

Next week I want to focus on one the most prevalent kinds of service for which you can get credit in determining your length of service and have it used in your annuity computation: active duty service in the armed forces.