Financial stress most often presses a federal employee who is disabled for his/her position description to scramble for some sort of income during the application process for OPM Federal Employee Disability Retirement. It is certainly difficult to survive without a steady source of income, but refusing the opportunity may just be your best bet.
If you have any questions or need help with a federal employment issue, please contact our firm online or call (800) 801-0598 today.
How Does OPM Disability Retirement Back Pay Work?
Once you are approved for OPM Disability Retirement, you will be awarded back pay along with annuity payments. The effective date from which back pay is calculated is the day after your last paycheck, either by your agency or the OWCP.
What is the OPM Disability Interim Payment?
Since it can take up to 6 months for applications to be approved, you may start receiving interim payments within three to four weeks for your personal use.
The interim payment is typically 80 percent of what your normal benefits would be.
What If I Received an Overpayment?
In some cases, individuals may receive overpayments. In such cases, you may be required to repay the excess amount, or request a waiver from the government.
Continuing to Work? You May Lose Money When OPM Disability Retirement is Approved.
What this means practically: If you have used up all your leave and have been on LWOP for 6 months, finances are probably becoming an issue and you will likely put forth your best effort to show up at work for a day here and there or perhaps even a week just to get a bit of compensation. Contrary to the instinctive feeling, you may be losing money if you are ultimately approved for OPM Disability Retirement since the back pay will not cover those 6 months now as the last day of pay has been changed to a more recent date.
A similar situation is if you are unable to work full time but choose instead to work 1 or 2 days a week while waiting for a determination from OPM. This arrangement provides you with 20% or 40%, respectively, of your salary (for a 5-day work week), which is certainly a measure of financial relief. However, if you were to be granted OPM Disability Retirement, you would be awarded 60% of your salary (during the first year) for that same time period were you not to have worked at all! Not too shabby!
Contact an OPM Federal Employee Disability Retirement Lawyer
Make sure to have a qualified law firm such as Pines Federal , who will help you avoid these pitfalls throughout the application process of OPM Disability Retirement, and will be there for you to ensure that you have a strong application with all the necessary details included. Contact Pines Federal at (800) 801-0598 or send us an online message today for a consultation.