Federal Disability Retirement: The 80% Rule and Other Considerations
In preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS, it is always the future which one must plan for — the short-term future of obtaining Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the Office of Personnel Management; the intermediate future of adjusting to the monetary reduction; the longer-term future of planning for another career, to supplement the income from one's Federal Disability Retirement annuity.
As to the last factor, the "80%" rule must always be adhered to — that while FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement allows for a person to work in the private sector and make up to 80% of what one's former position currently pays, the greater question often involves: Doing what? Federal and Postal workers who have worked in the Federal Sector have done so to perfect all of the skills and knowledge for a particular career path. As such, as with most individuals, to become "disabled" from being able to perform one or more of the essential elements of one's job is devastating not only financially, but moreover, the impact is upon one's "life work" in so many other ways — upon one's identity, which is bundled up so intimately in one's career and work.
Can an injured or partially disabled Federal Employee who has been approved for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS go out and obtain a State, County or City job, or one in the private sector, which is similar to one's former Federal job? The general answer is "yes" — so long as one adheres to the 80% rule, and so long as the "essential elements" which you could not do, are not required in the new job. The trick is to differentiate and justify the distinction, and such differentiation and justification can involve both medical and legal issues which should be addressed prior to acceptance of the new non-Federal job.
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