In the federal retirement system, what you don’t know can hurt you. This week, I present the story of a shocking—and arguably unfair—surprise the spouse of a retiree received upon his untimely death.

In your column titled "Windfall elimination and CSRS," I think you missed the mark. Your questioner stated that his federal pension would be reduced at age 62. I believe that his question was ...

So, suppose an employee retires at 55 with 15 years of Offset service included in the 30 years of service upon which the retirement is based. At 62, the individual becomes eligible for Social Security ...

The Federal Erroneous Retirement Coverage Corrections Act (FERCCA) was enacted in September, 2000 and designed to provide relief to federal civilian employees who were placed in the wrong federal ...

I retired from the federal government 10 years ago under the Civil Service Retirement System program. I applied for my Medicare before the three-month timeframe. I was told that I would not receive ...

Q: I am 61 years old and receiving Social Security disability benefits. What happens when I reach my retirement age of 67 and two months? Does the amount I receive just stay the same and I just move ...

Since the Civil Service Retirement System began being phased out in the mid-1980s, the number of active-duty government workers enrolled in it has dropped to about 742,000, fueling speculation about ...

Determining whether a Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) retiree can collect spousal Social Security benefits isn't always easy. Typically, because those under CSRS do not pay into Social Security ...

The government first learned more than a decade ago that it had a problem with employees enrolled in the wrong retirement systems. Since then, many employees have told of financial hardships they ...

Mr. Gigantino's letter, "Here's how to fix Social Security" that was published in the Nevada Appeal on Dec. 8, is totally in error regarding congressional pensions ...

This is a biweekly sponsored column by attorneys John Berry and Kimberly Berry of Berry & Berry, PLLC, an employment and labor law firm that specializes in federal employee, security clearance, ...

I retired from the federal government 10 years ago under the Civil Service Retirement System program. I applied for my Medicare before the three-month timeframe. I was told that I would not receive ...