Benefit Bits Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 13:00:37 -0400 To: "USGS Employees" From: "Cindy S. Wylie" Subject: Benefit Bits In Reply Refer To: Mail Stop 601 MEMORANDUM Supervisors, Managers, and Team Leaders: Please ensure that employees without access to e-mail receive a copy of this message. To: All U.S. Geological Survey Employees From: Robert Hosenfeld Personnel Officer Subject: Benefit Bits There will be three Employee Well-Being benefit topics covered this month. STATE TAXING OF FEDERAL ANNUITIES Listed below are those States exempting the total amount of the Federal annuity. Alabama Michigan Hawaii Mississippi Illinois New York Kansas North Carolina Kentucky Pennsylvania Louisiana Oregon Massachusetts Listed below are those States with no personal income taxes: Alaska Tennessee Florida Texas Nevada Washington New Hampshire Wyoming South Dakota The source for both of the above listings is the National Association of Retired Federal Employees. PARTTIME EMPLOYMENT Employees who have a parttime tour of duty should be aware that their Federal benefits are affected. Listed below are those benefits. Annual and Sick Leave - Leave is prorated based on the employee's tour of duty. Health Insurance - An employee continues to be responsible for the employee's share of the health benefits premium. However, the government contribution toward the premium is prorated based on the employee's tour of duty; the employee pays the balance of the normal government contribution. For example, if an employee works 40 hours a pay period, he/she would pay the employee share plus half of the government's contribution. Life Insurance - The value and cost of the employee's life insurance would be less as two components are based on the annual salary. The exception are Options A and C; value of these two options is constant and the rates are based on the age band of the employee. The cost of the Basic and Option B are based on the employee's annual salary; a parttime employee would be paying a lesser premium but receiving a lesser value than a fulltime employee. Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) - An employee on a parttime tour of duty would contribute less to the TSP, as the contributions are based on biweekly gross pay. Civil Service Retirement System/Federal Employees Retirement System Deductions - This is a mandatory deduction based on the employee's biweekly gross pay; therefore, a parttime employee would be contributing a lesser amount toward the retirement system than a fulltime employee. If an employee has parttime service on or after April 7, 1986, the retirement benefits are prorated. The employee receives fulltime service credit for any parttime service. The average salary for both parttime and fulltime employees will be computed on the basis of the fulltime salary, but the benefit so computed will be prorated, that is, reduced by a fraction that reflects parttime service. For example, an employee whose 30-year career performed on a 30-hour week work schedule would have his/her annuity based on 30 years of service and a fulltime average pay, but the annuity would then be multipled by .75 (reflecting the 3/4 time schedule), resulting in an effective reduction of 25 percent. FILING OF AWARDS Employees who are reviewing their files for award documents should be checking the Employee Personnel File (EPF). Due to a change dictated by the Office of Personnel Management, all award documentation is now filed in the EPF. This includes the SF-50 personnel action as well as the justification for the award. If you have questions regarding the above topics, you should contact your servicing human resources office.