August 2008 Newsletter - American Foreign Service Association

Page 5
AFSA Newsletter
About AFSA
Why I Became a Lifetime AFSA Member
Kudos to Bill Farrand and Bonnie Brown for
their article in the April issue of the Foreign
Service Journal about poor and inconsistent
State Department services for retirees! Frustrated
by State’s failure to respond to my queries
on a timely, accurate basis, I finally appealed
to AFSA for help.
Since AFSA began advocating for me, I have
benefited from timely, correct responses and
appropriate actions. AFSA intervention worked
where my squeaky wheel efforts failed.
What went wrong before I turned to AFSA?
Here’s a summary. The pre-retirement, routine,
annual estimates of the annuity I received were
significantly higher than the annuity I received.
My retirement plaque and letter cited 31 years
of service, while my annuity was based on significantly
fewer years of service. After my husband
died, various errors were made in calculating
both the annuity for my employment and
the annuity for my husband’s employment.
Those errors compounded. Without warning,
several thousand dollars were deducted from
my banking account for an overpayment. That
resulted in my account being overdrawn. In order
to correct one of the errors, I had to file a
correction to my 2006 income tax.
Since AFSA began advocating for me, I have
benefited from timely, correct responses and
appropriate actions. AFSA intervention
worked where my squeaky wheel efforts
failed - - Ann Berry
At a number of points — as the errors piled up
— I called Charleston daily. For the most part,
my calls were not returned. On occasion, the
staff there referred me to the staff in Washington,
D.C., or the reverse. I want to commend
the retirement staff who did talk to or e-mail
me for being extremely courteous and often
even apologetic throughout my saga. It was as
if they, too, were victims in a system beyond
their control.
I continued my AFSA membership after I retired
in order to keep in touch with the arena where I
had spent my entire adult life. I now realize that
I also need AFSA as an advocate. And that is
why, after the last time AFSA intervened for me,
I became a Life Member.
- By Ann Berry, Retired FSO
AFSA’s 2009 Retiree Directory
Is your contact information current?
Please send changes of name, address, telephone
numbers and e-mail address to:
AFSA Membership
Tel: (800) 704-2372, ext. 2
(202) 338-4045, ext. 525
E-mail: afsa@afsa.org
Bonnie Brown
Retiree Counseling
and
Legislative Coordinator
Monday through Wednesday
(202) 944-5509 or 1 (800) 704-2372, ext. 509