Q. I was a federal retired disabled annuitant from Aug. 14, 2013 until May 31, 2015, when I was hired by the State Department after receiving a kidney transplant six months ago. The human resources department says the 20 months of disability retirement constitutes as a break in service; they have recalculated my previous Service Computation Date of July 17, 2000 to May 4, 2002. I was told by OPM that my disability does not count as a break in service. Is this accurate? If not can you direct me to the Fed Regs to dispute this?
A: The Department of State is correct. Your contact in OPM is wrong if he told you that your time on disability retirement would be considered creditable service when determining your service computation date. Retirees, whether disability or regular, don’t receive credit for any time that they are on the annuity roll.
