CSRS or Civil Service Retirement System

The Civil Service Retirement System has been in place since 1920 giving disability, retirement, and survivor benefits to the majority of civilian employees in the federal government. In 1987, FERS or the Federal Employee Retirement System was put into place to replace CSRS, however there are still over one million people collecting CSRS benefits each month.

Retirement benefits through CSRS are a little confusing. The amount of benefit in retirement is based on not only the duration of service, but also the average pay received over the highest three years of pay. In other words, if you worked for them for 25 years, and the last 3 years were the years when you were paid the most, those three years would be averaged together and your benefits would be based on that number. I think. Retirement benefits are presently being financed by both the government and employee contributions to the retirement fund.

There are eligibility requirements to receive the benefits of CSRS. An employee is qualified to retire voluntarily if the following provisions are met: Five years of creditable civilian service; separated from a position subject to CSRS coverage; is covered by CSRS for at least one year in the following two years after leaving the position; and meets age/service combinations of age 55 with 30 years of service, or age 60 with 20 years of service, or age 62 with 5 years of service. Employees who separate from service and have met all requirements except for age/service combination may be permitted to a deferred annuity at age 62. There are also stipulations regarding this benefit.

Honorable active military duty may also qualify, subject to conditions. It was executed before the separation date upon which is the basis for entitlement to annuity; it is not comprised in computation of military retired pay except for certain service-connected disability requirements; if the military service was executed after December 31, 1956, some employees will have to create a deposit for the service to receive firstly or for other employees, to retain credit after the age of sixty-two.

Although the service used in determining an employee's eligibility for retirement is typically the same as creditable service for computation purposes, there are some exceptions: periods of CSRS service refunded, will not be creditable unless a redeposit is made; if the refunded service was executed before October 1, 1990, it will be qualified even if no redeposit is made but the annuity will be actuarially decreased; non-education service is made on or October 1, 1982, is not qualified if a deposit has not been made.

There are so many stipulations and qualifications for the benefits of CSRS, they cannot all be listed here. The best advice that can be given on the benefits of CSRS is to speak with someone in person who can help you better understand your rights and benefits under the Civil Service Retirement System or Federal Employee Retirement System.