Disability retirement and SSDI

Q. I was forced to take medical leave because I slipped and fell in the ice and snow. The injury caused a severe illness, and eventually my agency separated me on disability retirement. Later I was awarded Social Security Disability Insurance. They offset my disability annuity by the same amount, so I have to pay the Office of Personnel and Management back the same amount I received from SSDI. It seems like I shouldn’t have applied for SSDI if they were going to deduct the amount of the SSDI from my disability benefit. What do you think?

A. The law is clear. As a disability retiree who was approved for SSDI, for the first 12 months you’d receive 60 percent of your high-3 average salary minus 100 percent of your Social Security disability benefits. After the first 12 months, you’d receive 40 percent of your high-3 minus 60 percent of your Social Security disability benefits. If you are still disabled at age 62, your disability annuity would be converted to a regular annuity, which would be computed as if you had worked to age 62.