Q. I recently turned 62. Four years ago, I had my disability retirement approved by the United States Postal Service. Unfortunately, Social Security did not approve my disability and I didn’t receive any monthly benefit until I turned 62 and that was at the non-disability dollar rate. Does my USPS disability retirement monthly annuity increase to what a voluntary immediate retirement is? And, since I turned 62 several months ago, will the Office of Personnel Management process a lump sum payment to cover those several months?
A. Here are the rules for FERS disability retirees:
At age 62, your disability benefit will be recomputed. An artificial retirement benefit will be calculated as if you had worked to age 62, Therefore, actual service will be added to the time you spent on the disability rolls to age 62. The total time will then be multiplied by 1 percent (1.1 percent if your actual service plus time on disability equals 20 or more years of service). The total percentage amount will be multiplied by your high-3 at the onset of your disability, increased by all FERS cost-of-living adjustments payable from that time to age 62. If that benefit is greater than the one you were receiving, you’d be entitled to a make-up payment. If it isn’t, you wouldn’t.
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Survivor benefits for disabled child: If child is receiving a survivor benefit from his father’s Social Security, would he also be eligible to draw a survivor benefit from his mother’s Civil Service?
Was his mother employed under CSRS or FERS?