Questions always abound when Federal agencies and the U.S. Postal Service offer incentivized programs under the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) propounded by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. In accepting a VERA, the Federal or Postal employee who suffers from a medical condition must take into account whether the VERA should take the place of a Federal Disability Retirement application, or whether it will merely be the first step in the process of filing for Federal Disability Retirement.
Often, because Federal Disability Retirement takes many months in order to secure and procure, Federal and Postal employees considering such an option will elect to accept a VERA in order to have some income during the time of filing for, and waiting upon, a decision from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in a Federal Disability Retirement application.
Questions which the potential Federal or Postal VERA annuitant should ask themselves include: What impact does a Federal Disability Retirement application have upon a VERA? Is there an offset between Social Security and the VERA annuity, as opposed to the offset which occurs under Federal Disability Retirement, and if so, which provides greater financial sense? Are there provisions where, if the Federal or Postal employee accepts a VERA, one must repay any lump sum incentive which is offered, if one subsequently files for Federal Disability Retirement benefits and gets it approved?
While it often makes sense to accept a VERA, then to subsequently file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits within one (1) year of being separated from Federal Service as a result of the VERA, one should nevertheless do so with full knowledge and information.
As a final point, in addition to obtaining all information and basing one’s decision upon full knowledge, the fact that the years which one is on Federal Disability Retirement counts toward the total number of years of one’s Federal Service, should always be factored in — especially if one lives to be a ripe old age, where one’s retirement nest egg will be an important future consideration.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Important Cases, Legal Updates and/or the Current Process Waiting Time | Tagged: 2013 VER (Voluntary Early Retirement), 2013 voluntary early retirement authority (vera) and federal disability retirement, accepting opm disability clients all across america, always an early buyout for disabled postal workers, an "early out" option before your postal job hurts your health even more, an injured postal worker can always get an "early out" retirement, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, careful consideration of VERA (early retirement), civil service disability retirement, comparing programs that allow federal employees to retire earlier for different reasons, comparing reduction in force (rif) initiatives with disability retirement programs under fers or csrs, cost-benefits analysis of accommodation efforts in federal employment: theory and practice, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, disability severance pay for furlough public employees, early out for rehab federal workers, early retirement initiative for federal and postal workers to control budget deficit, essential elements of jobs, federal disability attorney, federal disability law blog, FERS disability retirement, FERS medical retirement, financial planning before getting that "early out" retirement with the federal government, if a disabled federal employee is contemplating early out under VERA he or she should also consider the pros and the cons of these programs, if disabled postal employees need an "early out", incentives or annuity reductions for accepting a ver or vera initiative (voluntary early retirement for postal and federal employees), law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, legal representation for injured federal workers, nationwide representation of federal employees, owcp disability retirement, pragmatic methodology, representing federal employees from any us government agency, risk-benefits analysis after a serious injury in the federal workplace, statutory requirements in OPM disability law, us postal service voluntary medical retirement, USPS Disability, USPS disability retirement, usps early out for medical reasons, vera vs federal disability retirement, Voluntary Early Out (VER) for federal and postal employees: learn and study the program including any possible offsets and the possibility of returning any lump sum back to the federal government, voluntary early out or federal disability retirement?, your treating doctors |
Leave a Reply