If you work for the federal government, you may already know about the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). It not only provides benefits when you finally reach retirement age, but it also pays federal disability benefits when you cannot work because of a disabling medical condition.
When a disability prevents you from working, Social Security disability for federal workers may be available for you, depending on several factors, including when your federal employment began. Sackett and Associates, Northern California and nationwide disability professionals, explains how federal employee Social Security eligibility works.
Disability Benefits Through The Social Security Administration
Workers who pay Social Security taxes on their earnings for a long enough period can receive retirement benefits when they reach full retirement age. If a disabling medical condition prevents a person from working, they can qualify for disability benefits through the Social Security Disability Insurance program.
The SSDI program is administered by the Social Security Administration. It pays disability benefits to workers younger than their full retirement age who are unable to work because of a medically determinable physical or mental health impairment. The inability to work must be long-term. It must have lasted, or be expected to last, for at least 12 months or be expected to result in death. When a worker who receives SSDI benefits reaches their full retirement age, the SSDI benefits automatically convert to Social Security retirement payments.
Retirement Programs For Federal Employees
Two retirement programs exist for federal employees: the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). Each program pays retirement and disability benefits.
The CSRS program applies to those federal workers employed before January 1, 1984. Federal workers covered by the CSRS retirement program did not pay Social Security taxes on their earnings.
Federal workers hired on or after January 1, 1984, are eligible for retirement and disability benefits through the FERS. These federal workers get SSDI and Social Security retirement benefits when they pay Social Security taxes on their earnings for a long enough duration to meet the requirements for SSDI eligibility.
Eligibility Requirements for SSDI And FERS Disability
To be eligible for Social Security disability benefits, you must have worked long enough and recently enough and paid Social Security taxes on your earnings or self-employment income. The Social Security Administration uses work credits to determine eligibility for SSDI.
You earn one work credit for each $1,810 of earnings from a job or self-employment income each quarter, up to a maximum of four credits per year. The $1,810 is for 2025, but it changes from year to year.
The number of work credits needed to qualify for SSDI benefits depends on your age at the onset of the disability. As a general rule, a person needs 40 credits, with half of them earned within 10 years of the onset of the disability. Younger workers need fewer credits. For example, a person who becomes disabled at age 27 needs at least three years of work, or 12 work credits, out of the prior six years.
Having enough work credits only satisfies part of the eligibility requirements. You also must be disabled. Social Security does not pay disability benefits for a partial or short-term disability. To qualify for SSDI, you must meet the following criteria:
- You must be unable to work at a substantial gainful activity level.
- The inability to work must be caused by a medically determinable physical or mental impairment.
- The impairment or impairments lasted or are expected to last for at least 12 months or are expected to result in death.
A federal employee with a disability that does not meet the requirements for SSDI may be eligible for disability benefits through their federal retirement disability program administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, or OPM.
The disability benefits through OPM require that a federal employee be unable to perform their current position. The disability must be expected to last for at least one year, and the agency they work for must be unable to accommodate them in their current position or another position.
Learn More About Your SSDI Benefits as a Federal Employee
If you receive OPM disability and SSDI at the same time, the OPM disability payments are reduced. The reduction could be as much as all or a percentage of the SSDI payment you receive each month. The offsets are governed by federal regulations designed to provide you with enough income each month to live on without exceeding what you earned when working.
The disability lawyers at Sackett and Associates understand how confusing the rules about federal employee Social Security eligibility can be, so they take whatever time is needed to explain them to their clients. To learn how federal employees SSDI claims work with other disability benefits available to them, contact Sackett Law today for a free consultation and claim evaluation.
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