Disability Retirement For Fers Employee Who Is Also A Disabled Vet

[Machinato Charlie]

Hi everyone, my very first post:

I currently work for the Department of Defense as a GS employee under FERS. I am also 80% disabled via the VA. The DAV folks have told me that if I need to retire under disability I'll receive 80% of my top three years salary for the first year of retirement and 60% for all subsequent years. The FERS material I can find on-line tells me the numbers of 60% the first year and 40% for following years. Does anybody know where I can read about this - what law citation or Code of Federal Regulations? If you don't know the site, do you know where anything is written about that difference in percentages for disabled vet employees versus non-disabled vet employees and non-vet employees? Sounds to me like, according to the Disabled American Veterans folks, I would receive 20% more than a "regular" FERS employee when I leave under disability. Well, this is a huge deal to my wife and me, but I sure can't find anything on-line discussing it. Can anyone help me out? Thank you.

[BILLYBOB]

Try the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Web site. There might be something there to help you.

[Bigdan]

Go to www.opm.gov and it will explain everything to you in regards to a Disability Retirement under FERS or CSRS. Myself I am pending a FERS Disability Retirement and it is 60% for the first year and then 40% after that using your high 3 years average. At age 62 it is recomputed as if you have been working the years that you were out. If it is over 20 years of working then they will post 1.1 year for each year of service. If you worked less than 20 years then they will post 1 percent for each year. But remember you can still apply for Social Security Disability which has an offset too. Additionally, if you are an 80% S/C Veteran then there is a good chance that you can apply for Total Unemployability if your Disability Retirement is caused by your Service Connected condition. Good Luck,

BigDan.

[l_anthony]

Similarly, I am going through FERS Disability Retirement and am currently a 40% Service Connected Veteran. It is required under FERS to also apply for Social Security Disability. I know the Social Security will offset partially with the FERS. Can I recieve FERS Disability, VA and Social Security? If so, what offsets what? My FERS disability was from a different injury than my VA, if that makes a difference.

THX,

L_anthony

[JR Reihs]

Yes, you get all three......Your FERS will be offset by SS amount, when you reach 62, things will be recomputed by OPM to credit you with time served inder DR from FERS and the offset will be negated and FERS amount will reset higher.

Just be careful with your thrift plan funds and use it wisely.

[john999]

The good thing about getting OPM disability and/or SSD is that you have an exact date for VA purpose of TDIU. I did this myself, however, I was on worker's compensation for a few years. What the feds hate to deal with is a vet whose work-related job duties aggravate his VA disability. This makes you eligible to file for workers compensation. This pays a hell of a lot more than a FERS disability pension. If you get TDIU you will have to choose between workers compensation and TDIU. You can actually apply for OPM disability and also file for workers compensation at the same time and if you get both you can opt for one or the other. Your employer will never tell you about this or hint that this is a possibility. I had to got out on disability when I was just 30% so I was hurting for money.

[Teac]

Yes you can collect all three SS disability, Fers retirement and VA disability... And BigDan is correct about the offset, I medically retired in 1999, and nothing has changed about fers medical retirement in all these years...Further more if you are medically retired from the military ( less than 20 years) than you can buy that time into Fers retirement and still draw your disability retirement from the military and get credit for those years on Fers retirement. I did this myself, since I medically retired from service with over 15 years service....and my buy in was a mear $1400 for those 15 years....

To be sure your being a disabled veteran does not get you an extra 20% on a FERS retirement and anyone who told you this is missinformed.