Weekend Reading on Your Federal Benefits 28-18.jpg

(for the week of July 7th – July 13th)

You’re too busy during the week to keep up on all the news around your employee benefits and pay. My weekly summary of the most interesting and relevant news stories could help you and includes my comments and insights.

By the way, if you’ve read something about your employee benefits that you think is important or interesting, share it. And, let me know about news sources that you follow. Have a great weekend.

George Ray
Federal Benefits Online

In this week’s benefits news for Feds, it’s never too early to learn about survivor benefits options for your pension plan or for your TSP, and we answer the question ‘what happens to your benefits when you’re in Leave Without Pay status?’. Let’s get started.

Note: Due to some meetings this week, I’m getting this edition of the newsletter out later than usual. Also, it’s a bit shorter too because I just couldn’t find items that I thought were interesting enough to share with you. But, I’m sure you’ll find lots of other things to do to fill your summer weekend. Enjoy.

13 Things to Know About Your Annuity Options

From Govexec.com

Government Executive columnist Tammy Flanagan suggests that it’s never too early to learn about, and understand, the options that you have for choosing your FERS or CSRS retirement annuity. There are essentially five options from which you must choose when you retire. You’ll find them on the retirement application. To help explain them better, I usually ask Feds during my sessions to take a look at the application as we walk through the choices, and most are grateful that someone has finally shown them their options and discussed some of the consequences of choosing a particular option.

You may be surprised to learn that the law requires you to provide your spouse (if you’re married at the time you retire) with a survivor benefit unless your spouse agrees in writing to waive their right to this benefit. Employees are also usually unaware of the cost for this survivor benefit (and how it is calculated) when it is deducted each month from their retirement check. And, although it’s not something that anyone wants to experience, many Feds are unaware that the cost can be stopped if their spouse predeceases them.

Tammy’s article continues with information on providing a survivor benefit to a former spouse with a court order and also discusses the use of life insurance to substitute for the pension survivor option. It can be used to potentially lessen the cost if used properly. Learn more by reading her article, and then learn about Spousal Rights in the Thrift Savings Plan in my blog post from last September. It’s one of the most frequently read articles that I’ve published.

Impact on Benefits of Going on Leave Without Pay

From Fedweek.com

Last week Federal expert Reg Jones provided us with some information about Leave Without Pay (LWOP) status and how it is determined. This week Reg continues the discussion but focuses instead on what happens to your employee benefits when you go into an LWOP status. This is usually the question that I get if an LWOP issue should arise during my sessions.

Your Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) coverage and your Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) program are treated about the same. You’ll keep your health coverage for up to a year after you leave. You can choose to continue to pay on your own for your coverage or have past due amounts deducted from your paycheck when you return. You also keep your life insurance, but it will be paid by your agency with nothing due from you after you return. Nice.

That’s good to know, but most Feds are more interested in what happens to their Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and their Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) pension while on Leave Without Pay. Reg did mention in last week’s article that you can be in an LWOP status for up to six months in a calendar year and still receive credit for that time for retirement purposes. In other words, you won’t need to work longer to make up that time before you can retire. To learn more about what happens with your TSP, click on the link and check out his article.

See you next week. Thanks!

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