OPM Disability Retirement: Avoiding the Streets of London Past

Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits is a serious matter. There are often whispering lamentations about individuals “gaming” a system, or somehow taking deliberate “advantage” of a compensatory program in place, targeted for specific needs.  Of course, there will always be those few individuals who are caught manipulating an inherent weakness in an administrative process; but the fact that there may be a minority of negatives does not betray the compendium of positives within any given system.

OPM Disability Retirement, in the end, is one of the most thoughtfully enacted systems within the greater universe of Federal programs.

First, it is narrowly targeted with great specificity — to Federal and Postal Workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition prevents them from performing one or more of the “essential” elements of their positional duties.

Second, it requires a minimum eligibility requirement, both in substantive terms as well as procedural:  the FERS Federal employee must have a minimum of 18 months of Federal Service; the CSRS Federal employee must have a minimum of 5 years of Federal Service; and the condition must last for at least 12 months (this latter requirement does not mean that the Federal or Postal employee must be unable to work at all for 12 months, but merely that the treating doctor must be able to state, within reasonable medical probability, that the medical condition will last for a minimum of 12 months).

And, third, it does not penalize the Federal or Postal Worker from remaining productive in a second, alternative vocation.  The Federal and Postal Worker who receives a Federal Disability Retirement annuity is allowed to go into the private sector and make up to 80% of what one’s former Federal or Postal position currently pays, in addition to the receipt of the annuity.  Thus, in essence, it is a “self-paying” system in that it allows for the annuitant to pay “back into” the system, thereby maintaining the viability of the entire Federal Disability Annuity program for future applicants and annuitants.

It is rare among Federal Programs because of its thoughtful approach and well-planned process, as well as being successful in its outcome and current workings.

For critics who attempt to savage all such compensatory programs in an indiscriminate manner by pointing to weaknesses in the system, the following should be noted: the American Society long ago wisely decided to avoid the London streets of Dickens’ universe, where human debris of homelessness and poverty prevailed on the streets of a city now gone, and instead attempted to create a more caring and empathetic civilization.

Until and critic suffers from the devastation of a medical condition, you never quite know what it is like to be in the shoes of that Federal or Postal employee who daily toils to try and work, but cannot because of the progressively deteriorating disability which has devastated life, hope, and dreams of a better tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Postal and Federal Disability Retirement: The Price One Pays

One hears the familiar refrain:  trying to “game” the system; taking handouts; being on the government’s dole; and multiple similar allegations and assumptions.  Perhaps there are some who receive benefits which may be considered welfare-type compensation; and, maybe there are those who attempt to obtain something for nothing — or very little.  But one must be firm in making the conceptual distinction between those “others” and Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS.

First, the Federal and Postal employee works — and works hard and long hours.  Second, Federal Disability Retirement is a benefit which is part of the total compensation package for the Federal or Postal employee.  Third, Federal Disability Retirement pays a pittance in comparison with the compensatory standard of living which the Federal or Postal employee has been used to, and no sane person would take a voluntary reduction of one’s livelihood merely to get on the “dole”.  Fourth, many — if not most — of those who receive Federal Disability Retirement benefits pay back into the system, by getting a part-time or full-time job in another vocation, thereby paying taxes, FICA, etc.  And Fifth, it is the Federal Disability Retirement annuitant who is the one who pays the price — by having endured the repetitive work to such an extent that he or she has become debilitated; or withstood the abusive mental and physical requirements of one’s position which ultimately necessitated the drastic reduction in pay and forced to take a Federal Disability Retirement annuity.

It is the one who must pay the price — the Federal and Postal employee — who should be complaining; those who stand on the sidelines merely utter words.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

CSRS & FERS Disability Retirement: The Federal Worker

Whether you work for the U.S. Postal Service, the FAA, the Secret Service, OSHA, FDIC, or one of the other countless governmental agencies, don’t ever think that filing for disability retirement is an “act of surrender” or one which is somehow “taking advantage of the system”. In the private sector, it is the salary-compensation that is emphasized.  In the Federal sector, it is the “total package” of benefits:  less salary-based emphasis, more on other benefits, such as health insurance, life insurance, set number of days for annual leave and sick leave — and disability retirement benefits.  Thus, filing for disability retirement is not a “welfare” move — rather, it is an acknowledgment that you can no longer perform one or more of the essential elements of your job, and you are no longer a “good fit” for that particular job.  Remember that, when filing for disability retirement, the Agency itself must attempt to see whether it can (A) reassign you to another job at the same pay or grade (which is almost never) or (B) legally accommodate you (which, also, is almost never).  Further, disability retirement is not a benefit which pays you such that you can “live high on the hog”; rather, it is a base annuity, with the understanding that you can go out and get another job making up to 80% of what your former position currently pays.  In other words, in most cases, you are expected to go out and be productive in other ways.  Far from being a “welfare benefit” — it is part of the total compensation package you signed onto, and to which the Federal government agreed to.

Sincerely, Robert R. McGill, Esquire