Q: My husband was federal technician and served in the Air National Guard. The military discharged him because of health reasons. So he lost his federal technician job. He now receives Civil Service Retirement System disability benefits. He applied for Social Security disability. Social Security counts his CSRS disability as a public disability, so his benefit is offset and his payment is reduced to $31.00 a month. Now that he is over age 55, can he change his CSRS retirement to a CSRS annuity or discontinued service retirement? Social Security stated that if he is receiving a CSRS annuity or discontinued service retirement he will not have that offset and receive $583.00 per month.
A: If his disability annuity is terminated because he has recovered from his disability or is restored to earnings capacity and hasn’t been reemployed in a position covered by a federal retirement system, he would be eligible for an immediate annuity if he met one of the following age and service requirements: age 62 with five years of service, 60 with 20, or 55 with 30. He would be eligible for a discontinued service annuity if he has reached age 50 and has at least 20 years of creditable service or is any age with at least 25 years. If his disability annuity terminates and he doesn’t meet any of these requirements, he would be eligible for a deferred annuity at age 62.
