Pension Q

[lostinspace]

I have a state pension just short of fully vested. Any idea whether it is transferrable into the federal pension plan for ALJs?
Thanks!

Nothing like getting the cart before the horse-- but all I hear are crickets right now on the board.

[71stretch]

I'm a state employee as well. I found a pamphlet about the Federal Employee Retirement System, and it says no credit for service to state or local governments except some D.C. employees.

[ssaer]

An online discussion of your question and some possible options may be found at forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?136575-Fers-Retirement-Question

[71stretch]

That thread is good information.... but if you read the last post, the original poster still thinks he can do a direct rollover, even though the post he quoted specifically says FERS won't accept direct rollovers.

I've been with the state so long I will just be retiring from state service should I be fortunate enough to get an offer.

Good luck!

[yellowdog]

I am an employee in another federal agency and TSP (the Thrift Savings Plan) accepted a direct rollover of my accrued pension monies in 2005. Good luck!

[lostinspace]

thanks, folks.

[counselor95]

For folks being hired for ALJ positions now, with no prior federal service, FERS is the pension system and TSP is the 401(K): the two are separate, with different rules. FERS will not give credit for prior state service, but might count military service. Anyone with prior military service should check it out at the time of hire-- payment of money may be required.

[coastie]

When I first started at SSA (not as an ALJ), I was allowed to "buy back" my military pension. Payments over three years are interest free, but that date starts from your date of hire, not when you start paying or they figure out how much you owe. After that, they charge interest, and if they make an error, you still pay the interest even if you question the error before the three years are up.

[ruonthelist]

Jun 24, 2010 17:29:58 GMT -5 @sloppyjoe said:

any idea why ALJs have such a terrible pension system despite having their own union? From what i understand, it is essentially just FERS/TSP like any other federal employee.

Having or not having a union doesn't really have anything to do with it, because pension benefits are based on legislation and are not a matter of negotiation with the agency. If you are an executive branch civil servant (which ALJs are) your retirement plan is plain vanilla FERS unless Congress enacts a different plan for you.


The only impact that a union can have is as a legislative lobbying group, not as a contract negotiator.

There has been legisltion introduced in the last several Congresses to improve ALJ retirement, but none of them has ever gotten out of committee. The current version is HR 2850.