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Philip Rogers

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Philip Rogers Grand Master

Philip Rogers

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A friend works for the VA and has 5 yrs to retirement but is having some serious mental health problems. He pays into a federal retirement program, not Social Security. Would he be better off going out on medical retirement/disability now or to wait 5 yrs and retire, if he could stand it? Thanks.

pr

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Berta

Berta

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I know someone at local VA who was in the same boat-

He never thought that his Vietnam experience was the crux of his problems.He used to badger the PTSD vets that he supervised and call them crazy Vietnam vets. My husband was one of the crazy Vietnam vet VA employees who got the brunt of his anger-years ago-but apparently this supervisors work went down hill- he called me up about a year ago and apologised for calling Rod a nut case all the time- because he had been ordered by VA to get psychiatric consult and he was immediately diagnosed with PTSD from the Vietnam War himself.

He said FERS was handling his disability as he could not hang on at all until his retirement date and the VA didnt want him to-his work was totally affected by his SC condition-

PTSD had totally disabled him and he filed his first VA claim the very day he called me.

FERS has an offset to SSA benefits. The FERS web sites have a lot of info as to how that offset works.

If a vet cannot work well at this point due to service connection-that can only get worse-not better-if he still tries to make it to retirement-

a good friend of mine is in same boat-

everyday he works is adding to his disability and his doc told him for 3 years already that the job is making his SC worse.

Unfortunately he has not set aside any savings and is in debt and FERS or SSA all takes time to get even if you fully qualify.

My neighbor quit the VA last week-due to disability-

He is 10% sc and did not have a definitive doctor's statement that he could not perform the job or any other job at the VA ( A FERS condition)

He applied at 2 separate SSA offices and was denied- he was still working at the VA-so of course they denied him-

He also requested his FERS money be refunded during a prior VA employment years ago and the VA specifically told him- once he is out of FERS-if he returns to fed gov- he cannot get back into FERs.

He took the money and said he would never go back to VA to work but he did.

I explained all this to him 3 times-FERS criteria hasnt changed much since my husband was in FERS retirement-and I also read him the info at the FERs websites.And the SSA offset stuff.His boss explained all this to him too months ago.

Then I gave up on dealing with him.

He actually thinks his FERS disability check is in the mail.And that SSA will reconsider and send him SSA money too.

There are excellent FERS web sites and forums and this situation this vet is in is like what many others go through.

Of course as long as he stays in FERS employment his retirement income increases-

but can he last long enough for that to even matter?

Edited by Berta

GRADUATE ! Nov 2nd 2007 American Military University !

When thousands of Americans faced annihilation in the 1800s Chief

Osceola's response to his people, the Seminoles, was

simply "They(the US Army)have guns, but so do we."

Sameo to us -They (VA) have 38 CFR ,38 USC, and M21-1- but so do we.

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Johnny K. Contributor

Johnny K.

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I left a federal job on disability for a back injury/surgery. The agency I worked for had a high number of stress related workers' compensation claims.

When I retired in 2005 the rule of thumb was that you would lose 2% of your full pension for each year of uncompleted service. So, five years early = 10% of the fully completed pension vestment.

I payed into my retirement account for inclusion of my military service time and that allowed me to get a full pension from Office of Personnel Management without having to file an O.W.C.P. claim. Your friend might consider the O.W.C.P. claim if it would pay more than the regular pension minus 10%.

Johnny K.

Doc Johnny K

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Philip Rogers Grand Master

Philip Rogers

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Thanks Berta & Johnny K! He's not a vet but has been a PTSD counselor for 25 yrs, for the VA and a damn great one. Just doing a little research to see what his options might be. Sounds like he might be able to get workers comp and then FERS. I'll need to do more research. Thanks again!

pr

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Testvet Grand Master

Testvet

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the difference in the SSD payment would more than make up the loss of the 5 years of regular retirement disability social security is a LOT more than regular SS but you need someone like John to tell you he knows more about the FERS system than I do

100% SC P&T PTSD 100% CAD 10% Hypertension and A&A = SMC L, SSD
a disabled American veteran certified lol
"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

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