The converse viewpoint of the short-sale, or short-term view, is the obvious: to look to one’s future with a long-term view, which often takes self-discipline in ignoring the short-term gain. In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, it is often difficult to disregard the attraction of OWCP payments, and to instead plan for one’s future by opting for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from OPM.
Under FECA/DOL, OWCP pays 75% of one’s Federal or Postal salary tax free (if one has dependents), and 66 2/3% without dependents. That is a sizable compensatory attraction. However, with limited exceptions, when one is under the thumb of OWCP, you: A. Cannot work at another job, B. Must do what OWCP says in order to continue the benefit, C. Must be careful, as the watchful eye, especially in the form of a video camera, may be anywhere and everywhere, and D. Will likely be subjected to second and third opinion doctors, as well as a nursing case manager, to try and expedite your return to your job.
Ultimately, OWCP is not a retirement system, and the job of the Department of Labor is to get you back to your former job as quickly as possible. OPM Disability Retirement, on the other hand, is a compensatory system whereby one is encouraged to go out and begin anew. The long-term view is often the harder road to take; it is, however, meant to reward one for a lifetime, as opposed to a momentary and fleeting memory which will end soon enough.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability & OWCP Workers Comp Filings | Tagged: accepting opm disability clients all across america, civil service disability, comparing apples to apples: owcp and opm disability retirement are very different compensation systems, comparing owcp dol gov and federal disability retirement, differences and similarities between federal disability and feca, disability retirement for federal employees, disability retirement versus owcp compensation, estimating actual and potential costs and comparing them to long term benefits, evaluating all the pros and cons of federal workers comp under feca, Federal Disability, federal disability retirement, Federal Worker's Comp and the OWCP nurse, federal workers comp pays more but..., federal workers' temporary compensations versus a retirement system, FERS disability retirement, I don't know whether I am better off with workers compensation or with federal disability retirement, ignoring the long-term benefits of getting fers disability retirement instead than workers comp benefits, nationwide representation of federal employees, OPM disability retirement, opm disability versus workers comp, owcp disability retirement, owcp nurses agenda to get you back to work in spite of disabilities, Postal disability, postal service disability retirement, reasons why you should elect to get federal disability retirements over owcp benefits, second opinion doctors and the fers csrs disability claim, understanding differences between workers comp and opm disability, USPS disability retirement, what's the difference between opm disability and workers comp?, why remaining in feca owcp doesn't pay off in the long term |
Why. Do we have to wait, till 62 to draw regular retirement. If i was not disabled I could get the early retirement. Do why do we lose that benefit?