Health Law

• Social Security Disability
  The main difference between Social Security Disability and Federal (and Postal) Disability Retirement is that the criteria applied in order to obtain and be approved for Social Security Disability benefits is much higher — that of “total disability”, as opposed to the lesser standard for Federal Disability Retirement, which merely requires a showing that a Federal or Postal employee is no longer able to perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal position.  Thus, under FERS (and the older system, CSRS ), the Federal or Postal employee must establish a “nexus” between the medical condition(s) suffered, and one or more of the essential elements of one’s position with the Federal government or the U.S. Postal Service.  Furthermore, during the process of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, it is an administrative requirement that the Federal or Postal employee must file for Social Security benefits.  In all likelihood, you will be immediately denied because you are either still employed by the Federal government or the U.S. Postal Service (there are exceptions, of course) or because you have made too much income for the year in which you are filing.  In any event, it is merely a formality, and the denial of your SSDI benefits will not impact your Federal Disability Retirement filing, but an approval for SSDI can have significant consequences, both in terms of having an “offset” feature with your OPM MedicalRetirement benefits, as well as enhancing the probability of a successful Federal Disability Retirement filing with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.