As with any other government workers, USPS employees certainly get an opportunity to obtain disability retirement through the OPM (Office of Personnel Management). In this article we will summarize all the important things to be eligible to get federal retirement disability for government employees
Eligibility – First of all, you have to qualify to request. A Federal government employee gets basic eligibility simply by meeting specific time within service requirements. Just for FERS workers, you need to complete already a minimum of 1 . 5 years of continuous service. And For CSRS workers, you have to have completed 5yrs of continuous service.
Disability – Once you have shown basic qualifications, you as a USPS employee have to prove that you have a disabling condition. Personnel Management (OPM) is going to check a disease or a medical condition – disabling for the federal retirement disability if you:
1)have any disease or medical condition
2) The diasea or medical condition produces a deficiency on your working performance, attendance or conduct. One other way showing that your own medical condition or disease is disabling – especially if there isn’t any performance, attendance or attendance deficiency – is to confirm that your own disease or medical condition is not compatible with either efficient service, retention or useful in your own present job position.
Here is the hardest thing for you to prove. Consider to submit proof of information below to be able to verify the disability component:
- Objective medical results that you get from your own treating specialist physicians.
- The evidence of disability and pain. It’s known as subjective evidence. This evidence might contain your sworn affidavit explaining precisely how the particular pain affects you.
- Any additional proof showing that your own disease or medical condition effects your capability to work in your civil service profession.
Continuity - After you have proven OPM that you have basic eligibility, plus shown “Office of Personnel Management” that you have a disabling condition, you as a Postal worker will need to convince OPM that your disability problem is continuous. Basically, if your own disabling condition is predicted to continue a minimum of 12 month from the actual date of the handicap retirement application is actually filed, you will have the ability to fulfill the continuity factor or element. It will prevent workers with non permanent disability conditions from getting the benefit of federal retirement disability. It is the easiest element that you can prove, however often appears to be probably the most easily ignored in the disability application.
Reassignment /Accommodation - After showing basic disability, continuity and eligibility, you as a USPS employee that apply to get federal retirement disability will have to show “Office of Personnel Management” or OPM that your employing Agency is not able to provide the disability. Normally it’s done by sending your own completed disability application to your own hiring Agency’s Human Resources (HR) office that is going to work along with supervisor preparing your own “Supervisor Statement”. It’s a form which the Agency is going to add to the application of your federal disability retirement and send to OPM.
Application for SS Disability - Other one last important element is that you also need to apply for SS Disability when looking for “Office of Personnel Management” federal disability retirement (OPM). In fact you do not actually need to get SS Disability, however, if you get it, then there might be 2 results. 1st, your own OPM annuity would be decreased so you do not “double-dip” your government for similar disability. 2nd, if your SS Disability is accepted prior to the OPM disability, so you can use it as proof to support the application of your own O P M disability retirement. 3rd, if your SS Disability is accepted following the approval of your federal disability retirement, so you can end up to owe OPM some money, plus you may be instructed to follow Government Regulations called “set-aside” provision.
If your request is rejected, you’ll have another chance to ask OPM reconsidering the decision – in this case you will want to file this particular request to get reconsidered within 1 month of the rejection of your request to get federal retirement for disability. If not you won’t get anymore appeal later. If reconsideration request of yours is also rejected, you will most likely get an appeal directly to the MSPB (Merit System Protection Board).
Visit LiteBlue.USPS.Gov portal website to get more detail about federal disability retirement. that internet site can only be accessed by all USPS employees in the United States. Just fill in your USPS employee ID together with your PIN number and you’ll be ready to access the LiteBlue.USPS.Gov government website where all USPS staff can gather online.
