Five doors. Five different questions.
A denial at one door says nothing about the others — and an approval at one can reshape what the rest will pay.
| I |
OPM Disability Retirement"Can you render useful and efficient service in your specific position?"
The dignified exit for FERS employees whose health has closed a chapter: 18 months of service, a condition your agency cannot accommodate or reassign around, filed while employed or within one year of separation. Denials proceed to reconsideration, then the MSPB. |
What most people miss
The prize isn't only the annuity — it's carrying FEHB health coverage into retirement. And the medical narrative must speak OPM's language: condition → essential duties → why accommodation failed. Eric's FedWeek column: Who qualifies — and who doesn't → |
| II |
Federal Workers' Compensation (FECA/OWCP)"Was this caused by your federal job?"
Tax-free wage-loss compensation and directed medical care for accepted work-related conditions, with no minimum service. Causation and medical development decide these claims. |
What most people miss
You may win both OWCP and OPM — but draw only one at a time. The election is a lifetime-value calculation, and it can be revisited as circumstances change. |
| III |
Social Security Disability"Can you perform substantially any gainful work at all?"
The strictest test of the five — and a mandatory application for every FERS disability filer. Approval adds a second stream, subject to offset against the FERS annuity. |
What most people miss
The offset math changes after year one, and a late SSDI approval reaches backward. Plan the interaction; don't discover it. Eric's FedWeek column: The benefit FERS requires you to apply for → |
| IV |
VA Disability Compensation"Is your condition connected to your military service?"
For the veterans who fill a third of the federal workforce — generally payable alongside salary, and alongside a FERS annuity. |
What most people miss
A VA rating doesn't answer OPM's question — the standards differ. But VA medical evidence, properly bridged, often becomes the backbone of the record. |
| V |
Reasonable Accommodation"Could adjustments let you keep the career?"
The Rehabilitation Act path to remain: the interactive process, telework, schedules, equipment, and reassignment as the accommodation of last resort — with a 45-day EEO clock when it's denied. |
What most people miss
Even when accommodation fails, the record it creates is often the decisive evidence in the OPM case that follows. Resigning before the record exists burns the bridge twice. Eric's FedWeek column: Stuck in the accommodation backlog → FMLA traps that turn leave into AWOL → |