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    • Accommodation and Light Duty (40)
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  • Past Blogs

  • Top Posts

    • OPM Disability Retirement under FERS: Perfection in an Imperfect World
    • FERS Disability Retirement for Civilian Federal Employees: The Chance of Success
    • About Me
    • Medical Retirement Benefits for US Government Employees: The Spiraling Life
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    • FERS/SSDI Offsets: Major Precedent-setting Case
    • Federal Disability Retirement Lawyer blog: Meeting the Legal Criteria

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 disability retirement annuity be recalculated — in your favor.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

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 »

Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) Disability Retirement: SSDI & FERS Offset (Continued…)

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Federal Disability Retirement Attorney

If a former Federal or Postal employee receives both FERS Disability Retirement annuity, as well as SSDI (with the proper offset), and finds a job, makes sufficient income to exceed the cap for SSDI — to the extent that Social Security finds that he or she is no longer “entitled” to SSDI benefits and suspends SSDI payments:  will the Office of Personnel Management recalculate the FERS Disability Retirement and reinstate the amount which was previously offset, to restore the full FERS Disability Retirement annuity?  The answer:  A number of recent cases have resulted in a “No”.  Petitions and Appeals are in the works. 

The reasoning and rationale of the Office of Personnel Management is that, because the individual is still “entitled” to SSDI benefits, but the benefits have merely been “suspended”, therefore the FERS Disability Retirement annuity is still offset by the “entitled” amount, not by what is actually received.  Pending the outcome of any Petitions for Review and Appeals to the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, Federal and Postal Disability Retirement annuitants must be careful in deciding whether or not to actually pursue SSDI.  If one is planning to work at another job, with a reasonable expectation of exceeding Social Security’s cap for employment income, the fact that if one is restored to earning capacity, one’s FERS Disability Retirement may not be allowed to be recalculated to make up for the lost offset, should be taken into consideration.

Sincerely, Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Filed under: OPM Disability & SSA Social Security Disability Benefits, Pre-Application Considerations | Tagged: accepting opm disability clients all across america, an additional danger of getting both fers and ssa disability retirement, danger in restoring full opm disability benefits, disability fers, disability retirement fers, federal disability and social security disability retirement, federal employee disability, fers, fers and the social security income cap, FERS Disability, fers disability and social security disability insurance ssdi, fers disability and substantial gainful employment 2010, FERS disability attorney, fers disability blog, fers disability pension rules, FERS disability retirement, fers disability retirement not being fully restored after giving up ssdi, FERS medical retirement, fers retirement social security, how much to fight for social security disability, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, medical fers retirement, offset, offset between social security and opm disability, opm disability and social security disability, opm disability and social security eligibility, opm disability and social security income considerations, opm disability retirement and the sga limit, opm disability retirement with ssdi and employment considerations, opm not restoring full disability benefits after ssdi, opm social security, opm ssdi offset, postal and social security disability, Postal Service disability, postal service disability retirement, questions about the about the fers and social security disability ssi process, Social Security and OPM disability relationship, social security disability compensation for opm disability retirees, social security disability for postal workers, social security issues for fers disability annuitants, ssdi and fers disability, ssdi fdr offset, what fers disability annuitants should consider before pushing for ssdi, whether it makes sense to get both opm and social security disability retirement | 3 Comments »

FERS Disability Retirement: SSDI & FERS Offset

Posted on June 26, 2010 by Federal Disability Retirement Attorney

Federal and Postal Disability Retirement annuitants under FERS were required to file for SSDI as part of the process.  Most Federal and Postal employees who filed for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS, never obtain an approval for SSDI.  This is natural, of course, and is part of the overall “framework” of the interaction between FERS Disability Retirement benefits and SSDI.  FERS Disability Retirement (as well as CSRS Disability Retirement) encourages Federal and Postal Workers to become employed in the private sector, and to become “productive” (translation:  continue to pay more taxes) in some other area of employment. 

Because Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS does not pay a great amount (60% of the average of one’s highest three consecutive years the first year under FERS, and 40% thereafter; a different computation methodology for CSRS employees, who are becoming rarer each year), the paradigm and plan of the Federal payment system for Disability Retirement annuitants had an implicit public policy approach of “encouraging” all such annuitants to find other employment.  Unless, of course, in addition to the FERS Disability Retirement annuity, one became entitled to SSDI payments, in which case the “cap” for income from other employment becomes much, much lower.  Many considerations should be thoughtfully approached when filing for SSDI, including plans for future employment.  Otherwise, some problems may be encountered if the annuitant receives both FERS Disability Retirement benefits, SSDI, and exceeds the cap from other employment.  More to Follow.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Filed under: OPM Disability & SSA Social Security Disability Benefits, Pre-Application Considerations | Tagged: accepting opm disability clients all across america, are there "strings attached" on social security disability retirement?, are us postal workers entitled to ssd?, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, disability fers, disability retirement fers, federal disability and social security disability retirement, federal employee disability, federal medical retirement, fers, FERS Disability, fers disability and social security disability insurance ssdi, FERS disability attorney, fers disability blog, FERS disability lawyer, fers disability pension rules, FERS disability retirement, FERS disability retirement SF3112-2, FERS medical retirement, fers retirement social security, how much to fight for social security disability, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, medical fers retirement, nationwide representation of federal employees, offset, offset between social security and opm disability, opm disability and social security disability, opm disability and social security eligibility, opm disability and social security income considerations, opm disability retirement with ssdi and employment considerations, opm social security, opm ssdi offset, owcp disability retirement, Post Office disability, postal and social security disability, Postal Service disability, postal service disability retirement, questions about the about the fers and social security disability ssi process, salary average of one's highest three consecutive years, Social Security and OPM disability relationship, social security disability compensation for opm disability retirees, social security issues for fers disability annuitants, ssdi fdr offset, the high-3 computation for medical retirement for ill federal workers, usps disability benefits, usps fers retirement | Leave a comment »

  • More on CSRS & 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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