amount I could possibly get if it is approved?
A
Contact the personnel office of your agency to request advanced sick
leave. An agency may advance up to 240 hours (30 days) of sick leave to a full-time employee.
Life Insurance payout
Q
I am still employed and have just found out I have a terminal illness. How will my Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) claims be paid?
A
The Office of Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (OFEGLI) is the administrative unit of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that pays claims for the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance Program. If OFEGLI is paying the beneficiary less than $5,000, the beneficiary will receive a check. If OFEGLI is paying the beneficiary $5,000 or more, the beneficiary will have a choice of two ways to receive the payment: • A check; or • A MetLife Total Control Account, or (TCA). This is an interest-bearing account set up in the beneficiary’s name with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. If the beneficiary is receiving $5,000 or more and does not make a decision on how to receive payment, a MetLife TCA will be set up in the beneficiary’s name.
retirees Self plus one?
Q
When will we be able to enroll in the “self plus one” option that was mandated for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) in the federal budget recently passed by Congress?
A
While the law allowed the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to have FEHBP health plans offer a self plus one option, it takes time to receive proposals from the plans and to establish regulations and rules. At the February meeting of the FEHBP Reform Advisory Group, of which NARFE is a member, OPM officials said the new option would not be available until plan year 2016 (enrollment in 2015) at the earliest.
COLA differences
Q
My wife and I are both retired federal employees. I am a Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) retiree, and she is a Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) retiree. We recently got our “notice of annuity adjustment” from the Office of Personnel Management. Since the Consumer Price Index increase was less than 2 percent, we thought we would get the same cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). But mine shows a 1.5 percent COLA for 2014. Hers shows 0. Why is this?
A
Federal retiree COLAs are determined by the change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of one year to the third quarter of the next. When the change is 2 percent or less, as it was this year, both CSRS and FERS retirees receive the same COLA. When the change is more than 2 percent, but less than 3 percent, FERS retirees receive 2 percent; when it is more than 3 percent, FERS employees receive 1 percent less than the CPI change. However, there are exceptions, based on the age of the retiree and the timing of the retirement: • COLAs for FERS retirees are not provided until the individual reaches age 62, except for disability, survivor benefits and other special provision retirements. FERS disability retirees get the adjustment, except when they are receiving a disability annuity based on 60 percent of their highthree years’ average salary. Also, if a FERS retiree has a CSRS component in his or her retirement, the component is subject to the CSRS COLA. FERS survivor annuitants, however, receive the FERS increase on their entire annuity, even when component service is involved. • To get the full COLA for 2014, a retiree or survivor annuity must have started no later than December 31, 2012. If not, the increase is prorated under both CSRS and FERS. Prorated accounts receive one-twelfth of the increase for each month during the year w w w. n a r f e . o r g
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