Q. I was approved for disability retirement through FERS and was a part-time flexible carrier. Before I was separated, I was converted to full time in May. In July, my disability annuity was approved by OPM. My annuity payment was reduced as a part time. Does being a part-time employee but doing 40 hours a week throughout my employment and converting to full time before OPM’s approval entitle me to get benefits as a full-time employee? Can they do this knowing I worked full-time hours all the time? Also what about hours paid from Office of Workers’ Compensation Program (OWCP)…
Browsing: disability
Q. I was placed on a FERS disability retirement by the FAA after suffering a stroke in 2005. The FAA revoked my class II medical, otherwise I would be able to return to my previous position. All my work for the FAA was conducted in either Kansas or Utah. In 2008, I obtained a job with a private company in N.J. In 2011, I was terminated and I requested unemployment benefits. The New Jersey unemployment office is stating I am not entitled to unemployment benefits due to my FERS retirement. Is this true? A. Because this isn’t a question about…
Q: I am a recently disabled 58-year-old letter carrier with 28 years of service. Since I reached my MRA at age 56, am I considered eligible for “voluntary” retirement under the FERS disability rules? I take that to mean I would only receive roughly $1,200 a month with no Social Security supplement, as opposed to 60 percent of my salary if I was under age 56. After reading your archived FERS disability articles, I am still unclear on this particular issue. A: If you retired voluntarily, you would be doing so under the MRA+10 provision (minimum retirement age and at…
Q. I’m retired under the Federal Employees Retirement System, and have been retired for over 10 years. I was injured on the job, unable to perform the work I was doing, and have had to change to an office job. I was lucky enough to be employed by the state and had really good insurance. So I opted out of my FERS medical benefits and received a larger annuity monthly payment. I didn’t think at the time that double insurance was needed. I am 47 now, still disabled and unable to return to my government job. I continue to receive an…
Q. If an employee is covered under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and is receiving military pay as a result of a service-connected disability, will/he she be entitled to receive credit for both retirement and leave purposes without waiving their military retired pay? What are the exceptions to the rule? A. You would only be able to get credit for that period of service without having to waive your retired pay if you were awarded it on account of a service-connected disability either incurred in combat with an enemy of the U.S. or caused by an instrumentality of war and…
Q. I medically retired as a Chapter 61 with 14.6 years active duty. I don’t and haven’t received any of my retirement pay because my disability through the Veterans Affairs Department has always been higher than what my service retirement pay would’ve been. Because my medical retirement is less than 20 years, I don’t get both entitlements. Because I’m not drawing both entitlements, is there any reason why I shouldn’t be able to add the 14.6 years toward leave accrual? A. Go to www.opm.gov/feddata/gppa/gppa06.pdf, which contains the chapter on Creditable Service for Leave Accrual, and scroll down to section 1.6. Creditable…
Q. I am a 58-year-old letter carrier covered under the Federal Employees Retirement System with 27½ years of service. I recently became incapacitated due to an occupational disease/illness. I am considering submitting a CA-2 form for worker’s comp under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act, applying for FERS disability and Social Security disability, or applying for early retirement. Can I apply for all four options at the same time and choose the best option later? What is not clear to me is the FERS disability option. Since I have reached my minimum retirement age and qualify for immediate retirement excluding the…
Q. In 1999, I was forced to go on disability retirement by the Postal Service after 13 years of being under the Federal Employees Retirement System. In 2006, I was deemed to be back to full earning capacity by a few hundred dollars. In 2007, I finally obtained another federal position, which I have been in ever since. What happens to those 7 years I was under disability retirement? I know if I had stayed under disability retirement when I reached age 60 or 62 (I forgot which age it was), all my time including the years on disability retirement would have been…
Q: My husband has four years active duty, 12 years as a reservist and 18 years as a civilian federal employee. He paid his military deposit in full. He was injured in a nonmilitary-related and noncivilian-related accident, and as a result the reserves put him on TDRL. Can he or will he have to waive his TDRL pay if he wants to use his military time to help him meet the years of service eligibility requirements for a civilian retirement? Or, does the fact he’s receiving TDRL pay prevent him from using his military service for civilian retirement purposes? A:…
Q: If a person on CSRS disability retirement is under age 60 and his doctor believes he can return to work, can he return to the governement and maintain the same status as he was before he retired? Or will he have to start at the bottom like a new empoyee and start over just as if he had never worked? A: While you may be re-employed in any position for which you are qualified, the law doesn’t require that your former agency or any other agency offer you a position. If you are rehired, your prior service – but…