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    • Accommodation and Light Duty (40)
    • Advantages of Federal Disability Retirement (27)
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    • Evaluation Of Your OPM Disability Claim – How Do I Know If I Have A Strong Case? (18)
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FERS/SSDI Offsets: Major Precedent-setting Case

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Federal Disability Retirement Attorney

For those FERS Disability Retirement annuitants who are/were concurrently receiving SSDI benefits, and have gone out to earn more income — there is good news.

In the past, if you exceeded the allowable income-ceiling, you would lose your SSDI benefits because you engaged in substantial gainful activity.  With no longer receiving SSDI benefits, the FERS annuitant would go to OPM and request that the Disability Retirement annuity be “recalculated”, because he/she is no longer receiving the SSDI offset amount.

In the past, OPM has consistently (and now, wrongly, it turns out) argued that, because such an individual continues to remain “entitled” to SSDI benefits (even though he/she is not receiving any such benefits), that therefore OPM is not required to recalculate the FERS disability retirement annuity upwards for the benefit of the FERS individual.

No longer.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit just issued the opinion in Stephenson v. OPM, Case #2012-3074, in which they have clearly and unequivocally stated that OPM’s interpretation of the law has been in error.  When a FERS disability retirement annuitant loses his or her SSDI benefits for engaging in substantial gainful activity, OPM must recalculate the FERS disability retirement benefit.

I argued the case in early December; the Court issued its precedent-setting opinion in just over a month.  This is indeed a major victory for FERS annuitants.  You can now take this case and wave it at OPM and demand that your Federal Disability Retirement annuity be recalculated — in your favor.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Attorney Robert R. McGill Reviews from former clients

Filed under: Federal Disability Judge-Made Decisions Quoted, FERS Disability, OPM Disability & SSA Social Security Disability Benefits, OPM Disability Process - 5th Stage: Federal Circuit Court of Appeals | Tagged: accepting opm disability clients all across america, attorney representing federal employees, beware of opm's policies before appealing ssdi denial, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, disability retirement for federal employees, disabled federal employees applying for ssdi, fdr and ssdi offset or interaction, federal disability law blog, federal disability retirement, federal offset disability annuitant, fers disability and social security disability insurance ssdi, FERS disability retirement, fers disability retirement usps attorney, fers retirement social security, law blog by top usps disability attorney, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, legal counseling by leading usps disability lawyer, legal representation for injured federal workers, offset, offset between social security and opm disability, opm disability benefits offsets with other benefits, OPM disability retirement, opm disability retirement offsets, OPM First Stage Disability Application, opm social security, opm ssdi offset, opm's strange policies with former ssdi recipients, opm's unfair handling of former ssdi recipients, owcp opm fers disability lawyer, postal and social security disability, Postal disability, postal service disability retirement, representing federal employees from any us government agency, the latest information on the ssdi and opm disability offset, the opm's refusal to reinstate full opm disability retirement, the upsetting opm/ssdi offset, top fers disability lawyer for federal and usps employees, USPS disability retirement, what happens when you are you are no longer ssdi recipient | 13 Comments »

  • More on FERS Disability Retirement

    • eZineArticles.com Article: The 1 Year Statute of Limitations
    • Federal Disability Retirement Laws, Medical Conditions, and the Intersecting Complications with OWCP, Social Security and FERS & CSRS
    • Federal Disability Retirement: The Full Arsenal of Weapons
    • FedSmith.com Article: Revisiting "Accommodation"
    • FedSmith.com Article: Sometimes the Process is just as important as the Substance of an Argument
    • Latest PostalReporter.com Article: Causation in a Federal Disability Retirement Case
    • Understanding the Complexities of the Law
    • USPS Disability Blog: The National Reassessment Program, the Agency and the Worker
  • Other Resources for Federal and Postal Employees

    • Articles Published in the Postal Reporter
    • FAQs on OPM Disability Retirement
    • FERS Disability Attorney Profile at Lawyers.com
    • Main Website on Federal Disability Retirement
    • OPM Disability Blog
    • The Postal Service Disability Retirement Blog
  • Seven False Myths about OPM Disability Retirement

    1) I have to be totally disabled to get Postal or Federal disability retirement.
    False: You are eligible for disability retirement so long as you are unable to perform one or more of the essential elements of your job.  Thus, it is a much lower standard of disability. 

    2) My injury or illness has to be job-related.
    False: You can get disability even if your condition is not work related.  If your medical condition impacts your ability to perform any of the core elements of your job, you are eligible, regardless of how or where your condition occurred.

    3) I have to quit my federal job first to get disability.
    False: In most cases, you can apply while continuing to work at your present job, to the extent you are able.  

    4) I can't get disability if I suffer from a mental or nervous condition.
    False: If your condition affects your job performance, you can still qualify. Psychiatric conditions are treated no differently from physical conditions.

    5) Disability retirement is approved by DOL Workers Comp.
    False: It's the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) the federal agency that administers and approves disability for employees at the US Postal Service or other federal agencies.

    6) I can wait for OPM disability retirement for many years after separation.
    False: You only have one year from the date of separation from service - otherwise, you lose your right forever.

    7) If I get disability retirement, I won't be able to apply for Scheduled Award (SA).
    False: You can get a Scheduled Award under the rules of OWCP even after you get approved for OPM disability retirement.
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