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What is "Federal Disability Retirement"?
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Federal disability retirement is a benefit accorded to all Federal and Postal Employees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). For CSRS employees, you must have a minimum of five (5) years of service. For FERS employees, you must have a minimum of 18 months of service.
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What is the difference between Social Security Disability and Federal Disability Retirement?
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The main difference is that the criteria to obtain Social Security Disability is much higher -- that of "total disability". To obtain disability retirement under CSRS or FERS, you must merely be disabled from performing one or more of the essential elements of your particular kind of job.
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Must I be totally disabled in order to file for disability retirement?
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No. You only need to be disabled from performing one or more of the essential elements of your particular kind of job.
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Read all F.A.Q. »
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Articles
The central focus of preparing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS is the Applicant's Statement of Disability - the Standard Form 3112A. All applicants who are filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits must complete this form - regardless of whether one is under FERS or CSRS. It is a daunting, foreboding (and some would say, forbidding) form. People approach this form with fear and loathing, and for very good reasons: It requires the applicant to discuss the most personal aspects of the case: one's medical condition and the impact of one's medical conditions upon one's job.
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As with most things in life, attempting to secure a Federal Disability Retirement annuity under FERS or CSRS requires an extraordinary amount of time, effort, planning, and the collection, formulation and coordination of a compendium of information. Multiple questions arise at the early stages of planning: Can I live on 60% of the average of one's highest-3 consecutive years of salary for the first year, then upon the second and subsequent years at 40% (planning stage)?
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When a Federal or Postal employee files an application for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS, one of the many issues immediately introduced, and which must be confronted, is the legal issue of “accommodation”. The fact that you can show that a medical condition prevents you from performing one or more of the essential elements of your job, is merely the first step in proving eligibility for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.
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When a Federal or Postal Employee decides to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, he or she is confronted with a compendium of "Standard Forms" -- from SF 3107 (2801 for CSRS employees), to the 3112 series (for both CSRS & FERS employees). The initial reaction in confronting the multiplicity of forms is usually an admixture of anxiety, puzzlement, disbelief, confusion, and concern.
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It is indeed a complex world. The multiple issues surrounding Federal Disability Retirement Laws, the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), the intersection between such benefits received under Federal Disability Retirement and the choices to be made with benefits potentially received from the Office of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP), the difference between Temporary Total Disability benefits and a Scheduled Award....
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The law is often a compendium of complexities for the lay person. Non-lawyers who enter into the "arena of law" often find it befuddling, confusing, and moreover, against the very grain of what law is "meant" to be. Law is meant to provide "justice". But if Justice is indeed the goal, one must know, understand, and apply the law properly. This is no less true for those Applicants who are attempting to obtain disability retirement benefits from the Office of Personnel Management.
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Law is an evolving process. Statutes are merely the beginning point. Thereafter, cases are tried before Judges, and the evolution of the law, within the context of a particular sector of law, begins to unfold. As the evolution of law begins to unfold, the complexity of the legal process becomes more and more intricately intertwined. A body of law develops and grows. Yes, to a great extent, lawyers create the complexities which grow within that body....
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In Law, not only is persistence necessary (as well as being a virtue), it is necessary in order to prevail. It is always disheartening to go up against a governmental Agency; it is even harder when a person suffers from a medical condition which impacts one's physical abilities, or perhaps one's emotional or cognitive capabilities -- or both. The process of obtaining disability retirement under FERS or CSRS from the Office of Personnel Management is a long road....
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The recent case of Vanieken-Ryals v. OPM, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, decided on November 26, 2007, cannot be overemphasized for its importance to the disability retirement process. It is, in my view, a landmark case which will greatly advance potential disability retirement applicants who base their disabilities upon psychiatric conditions.
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In this article, I will be addressing two separate issues: First, the issue of OPM's Medical Questionnaire, and next, the issue of Accommodations. At each stage of the process, an annuitant must always see his or her monthly annuity as a right which must be fought and protected. In recent months, I have seen an increase in cases where....
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In the opening sentence of Davis v. the Office of Personnel Management, PH-844E-06-0242-I-1, the Merit Systems Protection Board reminds us all that the "burden of proving entitlement to a retirement benefit is on the applicant..." In past articles, I have discussed a variety of issues, from important legal principles based upon Bruner v. OPM, to showing how to build the "proper bridge" in preparing a federal disability retirement application.
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I am receiving too many phone calls from people who have been fooled by his/her Agency that they have been "accommodated", and therefore they cannot file for disability retirement. From Federal Workers at all levels who are told that they can take LWOP when they are unable to work, to Postal Workers who are given "Limited-Duty Assignments" -- all need to be clear that your are NOT BEING ACCOMMODATED, AND THEREFORE YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO FILE FOR DISABILITY RETIREMENT.
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Many Federal and Postal Workers ask me to represent them in obtaining disability retirement at the Second Stage, after having filed without representation. I have no problems with that -- indeed, sometimes (though rarely), individuals have such a severe degree of medical disabilities that an attorney is not necessary. For the majority of Federal and Postal Workers, however,...
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I have often discussed the legal advantages of being separated from Federal Service for one's "medical inability to perform" one's job, which results in what is commonly known as the "Bruner Presumption", where such a termination results in a prima facie showing of his or her burden of proof.
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Many individuals who have filed for disability retirement benefits with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), get their applications rejected because they have not created the proper "nexus", or bridge, between their medical condition and the duties of their job. Remember, disability retirement is unlike Worker's Comp or Social Security. Under Worker's Comp, often the primary focus is to prove the causation between work and injury.
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At least once a month, I receive a call from an individual who has been on total disability with Federal Worker's Comp for several years. The individual has been separated from service from the Federal Government or the Postal Service for more than a year, and suddenly the Office of Workers Compensation Program sends the individual to a Second Opinion doctor, and thereafter....
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The Office of Personnel Management is constantly and aggressively attempting to change the laws concerning disability retirement, to make disability retirement laws more difficult to overcome. Such attempts at changing the law always comes in incremental steps,...
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Individuals attempting to file for disability retirement, either under FERS or CSRS, on their own, and without an attorney, must meet the same standards, same criteria, and same legal thresholds, as those who are represented. While it may cost an individual in the short term to hire an attorney, that cost may be insignificant compared to the loss of a long-term investment...
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I have previously discussed the case of Bracey v. Office of Personnel Management, 236 F.3d 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2001). This is an important case which directly impacts upon the issue of accommodation. One of the threshold issues which a federal disability retirement applicant must overcome, is the issue of whether or not the Agency can accommodate the individual's medical disability.
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In Disability Retirement law for CSRS and FERS, the main thrust of an application are twofold: proper medical documentation and resolution of all accommodation issues. However, you must also be aware of the hundreds of little "pothole" issues which unexpectedly appear in the course of filing for disability retirement, and it is often such smaller issues which hinder a successful filing.
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Many clients come to me after having attempted to file for federal disability retirement benefits on their own. Having been denied once, they are now in what is called the "Reconsideration Stage". It is often a purely financial decision for a person to file for disability retirement without the assistance of an attorney; however, in doing so, many pitfalls may abound, and it may be difficult to correct mistakes already made.
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I am again updating you with this informational sheet concerning Disability Retirement. Remember that disability retirement is an entitlement based upon your Federal Service. Once you have met the necessary time-requirements, it is a benefit accorded to you in the event that your medical condition renders you unable to perform the essential elements of your duties.
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Standard Form 3112A (Applicant's Statement of Disability) is a form requiring the disability retirement applicant to state his or her injury or disease; to describe how the injury or disease "interferes with the performance" of one's duties, attendance or conduct; and further asks one to describe "any other restrictions" of any activities which may be imposed by the disease or injury.
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