I have received numerous telephone calls which indicate that there are many people who are confused, misinformed, or ill-informed about the issue of Social Security disability, filing for it, when to file for it, etc., in conjunction with filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS (obviously, if you are under CSRS, you do not need to file for it). For informational purposes, here is the bottom line: Whether or not you plan to actually qualify for Social Security disability benefits, the only concern with respect to meeting the requirement for the Office of Personnel Management, as part of the FERS disability retirement application, is as follows: OPM really doesn’t care when you file, so long as you have filed and show a receipt on or before the day they approve your disability retirement application.
Thus, many people will tell me that they were “informed” by their Human Resources personnel that they must file with Social Security first before they can file for OPM disability retirement under FERS (not true); or, that they must have a decision by Social Security before they can file under FERS (even more untrue); or, that OPM will not even look at a federal disability retirement application unless you have first filed with Social Security (again, untrue). The bottom line: Yes, you must file for Social Security, but OPM doesn’t need to see a receipt showing that you filed, until the day they approve your OPM disability retirement application. So, sometime before the Federal Disability Retirement application gets to OPM, or, in those cases where one has procrastinated for too long, even after the application gets to OPM, you need to file for Social Security disability benefits, and have a receipt ready to show OPM.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Application, Appeals, and Other Medical Documentation Submitted To the OPM, OPM Disability & SSA Social Security Disability Benefits | Tagged: any ssa disability retirement requirement for the csrs disability application?, are you a fed employee with questions about workers disability compensation?, civil service disability, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, do I have to "qualify" for social security before getting any opm disability benefits?, even if you are not fully disable on the job federal, federal disability attorney, federal disability law blog, federal employee disability, federal government employee medical retirement, federal medical retirement benefits, federal worker retirement eligible, fers disability and social security disability insurance ssdi, FERS disability lawyer, FERS disability retirement, FERS medical retirement, fers retirement social security, if I apply for csrs disability retirement do I also need to file for social security?, if there is any ssi or ssd insurance requirement in opm disabiliy law, is it a "qualification" or just an "application" requirement for ssa disability?, is there a requirement to apply for social security disability in csrs disability?, is there any rules under fers that also apply for ssdi?, more questions about the fers and ssd disability process, nationwide representation of federal employees, opm disability and social security disability, OPM disability attorney, OPM disability lawyer, OPM disability retirement, OPM lawyer, owcp disability retirement really is usually meant "opm disability retirement", postal and social security disability, Postal disability retirement, postal employee retirement assistants, postal service disability retirement, questions about the about the fers and social security disability ssi process, representing federal employees from any us government agency, representing federal employees in and outside the country, should I apply for social security disability before even applying for opm disability?, shouldn't I just have to "apply" for ssd insurance in order to get postal disability benefits?, shouldn't the ssa reach a decision first about my ssd before I file for opm disability?, social security disability award and fers, social security disability compensation for opm disability retirees, social security filing requirement for fers not for csrs, USPS disability retirement, USPS disability retirement benefits |
OPM Disability Retirement 
What if you are on CSRS Offset? Do you have a requirement to file for SS disability?
Yes, Karan, If you are CSRS offset, you must file for SS Disability. I don’t understand the problem with doing so. I went online with SSA and got all the forms, etc and set up an appointment. As part of my application, I turned in a COMPLETE copy of all the paperwork (medical files, reports etc) with the application (over 500 pages for my case). The case worker was a bit startled at first, but said this would speed up the process. I was collecting SS benefits for two months before I started getting OPM benefits. I then returned to OWCP and still receive SS benefits (though a lesser rate). This week I received notification that I am also eligible for Medicare. (I am 60)