Disability Retirement for Federal Employees
Katelin P. Isaacs
Analyst in Income Security
December 28, 2012
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
RS22838
CRS Report for Congress
Pr
epared for Members and Committees of Congress
Disability Retirement for Federal Employees
Summary
Paid sick leave, disability retirement, or workers’ compensation may provide benefits for federal
civilian employees during periods of illness, disability, or workplace injury, respectively. Federal
civilian employees earn 13 days of paid sick leave per year. Sick leave can be used because of the
worker’s own illness or injury or to care for an ill or injured family member. A worker’s
employing agency can advance up to 30 additional days of sick leave to an employee who has
exhausted his or her accrued sick leave. A federal worker with a long-term disability can separate
from service through a disability retirement. A federal employee who sustains a disabling injury
on the job can receive benefits under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA), the
workers’ compensation program for federal employees. FECA benefits consist of cash
compensation, payment of medical costs related to the injury, vocational rehabilitation assistance,
the cost of attendant care services, and burial benefits. A disabled federal employee may not
receive a disability retirement annuity and FECA benefits simultaneously.
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Disability Retirement for Federal Employees
Contents
Sick Leave ....................................................................................................................................... 1
Disability Retirement ....................................................................................................................... 2
Civil Service Retirement System ............................................................................................... 2
Eligibility ............................................................................................................................. 2
Annuity ................................................................................................................................ 3
Federal Employees’ Retirement System .................................................................................... 3
Eligibility ............................................................................................................................. 3
Annuity ................................................................................................................................ 3
FERS Annuity Adjustment for Periods of Workers’ Compensation .................................... 5
Federal Employees’ Compensation Act ..................................................................................... 5
Eligibility ............................................................................................................................. 5
Benefits ............................................................................................................................... 5
FECA Death Benefits .......................................................................................................... 6
Death Gratuity Payment ...................................................................................................... 6
Contacts
Author Contact Information............................................................................................................. 6
Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................... 6
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Disability Retirement for Federal Employees
ederal civilian employees may be compensated for periods of illness, disability, or injury
through one of three systems: paid sick leave, disability retirement, or workers’
F compensation benefits for injuries sustained at work. In most cases, short-term illness or
injury is compensated through paid sick leave. A federal employee who experiences a permanent
disability can take a disability retirement before reaching the statutory retirement age. Disability
retirement benefits differ between the two federal retirement systems: the Civil Service
Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS). Federal
employees hired before 1984 are covered by CSRS and those who were hired in 1984 or later are
covered by FERS.1 Employees enrolled in CSRS do not pay Social Security taxes and do not earn
Social Security benefits while employed by the federal government. Employees enrolled in FERS
pay Social Security taxes and earn Social Security benefits. Until the age of 62, disability
retirement annuities under FERS are offset in part by the amount of Social Security benefits the
annuitant receives.
Sick Leave
Workers who experience short-term illnesses or injuries can use paid sick leave to take time off
from work. Federal employees accrue sick leave at the rate of 4 hours for each two-week pay
period up to a total of 104 hours (13 days) per year.2 Unused sick leave continues to accrue
without limit throughout a federal employee’s career. If an employee has exhausted his or her
accrued sick leave balance, the worker’s employing agency can advance up to 30 days of sick
leave per year.3 Ill or injured workers who have exhausted their accrued sick leave but who
expect to be able to return to work can use their accrued annual leave or, in some cases, can take
leave without pay until they have recovered and can return to work.
The federal government does not offer short-term disability insurance to workers who have
exhausted their accrued sick leave and annual leave. The Federal Employees Leave Sharing Act
of 1988 (P.L. 100-566) authorizes a voluntary leave bank program through which federal agencies
may allow employees to donate unused annual leave to employees who have exhausted their
accrued sick leave.4 Employees cannot donate unused sick leave.
When a worker covered by CSRS or FERS retires, any unused sick leave that he or she has
accrued is added to the employee’s length of service for purposes of computing the employee’s
annuity.5
1 Federal employees covered by CSRS were given the opportunity to switch to FERS during open seasons held in 1987
and 1998. For more information on CSRS and FERS, see CRS Report 98-810, Federal Employees’ Retirement System:
Benefits and Financing, by Katelin P. Isaacs.
2 5 USC §6307(a). If an employee separates from employment with a negative sick leave balance, it will be charged
first against his or her annual leave and then against earnings.
3 5 USC §6307(d).
4 5 USC §6361-§6371.
5 Until October 2009, FERS employees generally received no credit for unused sick leave at the time of retirement. P.L.
111-84 (signed into law October 28, 2009), however, requires the computation of an annuity under FERS to include an
employee’s unused sick leave in his or her length of service. For more background on this issue, see CRS Report
RL32596, Sick Leave: Usage Rates and Leave Balances for Employees in Major Federal Retirement Systems, by Curtis
W. Copeland.
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Disability Retirement for Federal Employees
Disability Retirement
Civil Service Retirement System6
Eligibility
A federal employee enrolled in CSRS is eligible for a disability retirement if
• he or she has completed at least five years of creditable civilian service;
• the employee has a disability that results in deficient performance, conduct, or
attendance or that is incompatible with the individual continuing to perform
useful and efficient service in his or her job;
• a physician certifies that the disability is expected to last a year or more;
• the worker’s employing agency is unable to accommodate the disability in the
worker’s current job or in an existing vacant position at the same grade or pay
and in the same commuting area; and
• an application for disability retirement is filed with the employing agency before
separation or with the Office of Personnel Management within one year of the
date of separation from employment.
Unlike the eligibility requirements for benefits under the Social Security Disability Insurance
Income (SSDI) and Supplemental Security (SSI) programs, eligibility for a CSRS disability
retirement annuity does not require the employee to be disabled for any employment in the
national economy.7 Instead, to be eligible for a CSRS disability retirement annuity, the employee
must be unable to perform the job to which he or she was assigned or a job at the same pay in the
same commuting area.
Unless the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) certifies that the individual’s disability is
permanent, an employee who has retired due to disability is required to undergo periodic medical
reevaluations until the age of 60. If the individual recovers, disability annuity payments continue
temporarily while the individual seeks reemployment. The disability annuity terminates at the
earliest of (1) the date on which the individual is reemployed by the government, (2) one year
from the date of a medical examination showing that the individual has recovered from the illness
or disability, or (3) six months from the end of the calendar year in which the individual
demonstrates that his or her earning capacity has been restored. The individual’s earning capacity
is deemed to have been restored if, in any calendar year, his or her income from wages, self-
employment, or both is equal to at least 80% of the current rate of pay for the position he or she
occupied immediately before retiring.8
6 5 USC §8337.
7 For details on eligibility for SSDI and SSI, see CRS Report RL32279, Primer on Disability Benefits: Social Security
Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), by Umar Moulta-Ali.
8 Earnings include wages, salaries, income from self-employment, and deferred compensation earned during the
calendar year. Earnings do not include gifts, pensions, annuities, Social Security, workers’ compensation, insurance
proceeds, unemployment compensation, interest, dividends, rents, inheritances, capital gains, prizes, awards, or net
business losses.
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Disability Retirement for Federal Employees
Annuity
Under CSRS, a disabled worker is eligible for a retirement annuity equal to the greater of (1) the
annuity that he or she would receive under the regular retirement formula, or (2) a minimum
benefit that is the lesser of
• 40% of the average of the employee’s highest three consecutive years of basic
pay (“high-three” pay), or
• the annuity that would be paid if the employee continued working until the age of
60 at the same high-three pay, including in the annuity computation the number
of years of service and the years between the date of retirement and the date on
which the individual would reach the age of 60.
The method of computing a CSRS disability retirement annuity assures that an employee will not
receive a larger annuity through a disability retirement than he or she would receive from having
worked to the minimum age and years of service required for a normal retirement. In general, a
worker who becomes disabled after 22 or more years of federal service will receive an annuity
computed under the regular CSRS annuity formula, regardless of his or her age. Because CSRS
has been closed to new entrants since 1984, most federal employees covered by CSRS now have
30 or more years of service. Under CSRS, a regular retirement annuity for 30 years of service
would replace 56.25% of the worker’s high-three average pay. A federal employee covered by
CSRS can take regular retirement with an immediate, unreduced annuity at the age of 55 or later
with at least 30 years of service, at the age of 60 or later with at least 20 years of service, or at the
age of 62 with at least five years of service. CSRS retirement annuities are indexed annually to
the rate of growth of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), regardless of whether the individual retired
due to disability or under normal retirement rules.9
Federal Employees’ Retirement System10
Eligibility
A federal employee who is enrolled in FERS must have completed at least 18 months of service
to be eligible for a disability retirement. All other eligibility rules for disability retirement under
FERS are the same as under CSRS.
Annuity
Federal employees enrolled in FERS also are covered by Social Security, and the amount of a
disability annuity under FERS is offset until the age of 62 by a portion of any Social Security
Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefit that the individual receives. Federal employees covered by
FERS who apply for disability retirement also must apply for Social Security disability benefits.11
9 For more information on COLAs under CSRS and FERS, see CRS Report 94-834, Cost-of-Living Adjustments for
Federal Civil Service Annuities, by Katelin P. Isaacs.
10 5 USC §845-§8456.
11 FERS disability benefits usually begin before the application for SSDI has been processed. If SSDI benefits are
approved, the FERS disability annuity is offset by 100% of the SSDI benefit for the first 12 months of the annuity and
60% thereafter, retroactive to the SSDI eligibility date.
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Disability Retirement for Federal Employees
Eligibility for Social Security disability benefits requires a determination by the Social Security
Administration that the individual is unable to perform substantial gainful activity in any job in
the national economy.12 Therefore, an individual covered by FERS may be determined to be
disabled for purposes of his or her job with the federal government, but not with respect to other
employment. In such a case, the individual would be eligible to receive a FERS disability annuity
but be ineligible for SSDI. A federal employee who is disabled under both the FERS and Social
Security statutes would be eligible to receive both a FERS disability annuity and a Social Security
benefit, subject to the provisions of federal law integrating the two benefits.
For federal employees under 62 years of age, the FERS disability retirement annuity in the first
year of disability is 60% of the individual’s high-three average pay minus 100% of any Social
Security benefit that he or she is receiving. In years after the first year of disability, the FERS
disability annuity is 40% of the individual’s high-three average pay minus 60% of any Social
Security benefit that he or she is receiving. The FERS disability annuity remains at that level—
adjusted annually by the FERS cost-of-living adjustment—until the individual reaches the age of
62. When a FERS disability annuitant reaches the age of 62, the FERS annuity is adjusted to the
amount that the individual would have received if he or she had continued to work until the age of
62. This ensures that an individual who retires from federal employment as the result of disability
does not receive a higher annuity after this age than he or she would have received as the result of
taking a normal retirement. The adjusted annuity at the age of 62 is equal to 1.0% of the
individual’s high-three average pay (increased by the FERS cost-of-living adjustments since the
date of the disability retirement) multiplied by the sum of years of service performed before the
date of disability retirement plus the number of years since that date. If the total number of years
is 20 or more, the annuity is 1.1% of high-three average pay multiplied by this number of years. If
an employee covered by FERS becomes disabled at the age of 62 or later, his or her FERS
annuity is computed under the regular FERS retirement rules.
In most cases, the adjusted FERS benefit payable at the age of 62 will be lower than the annuity
that was paid before age 62. However, at the age of 62 and later, the offset to the FERS annuity
for any Social Security benefits that the individual may be receiving will cease. Also, a worker
who was receiving a FERS annuity but was not eligible for SSDI can apply for Social Security
retired worker benefits at the age of 62, provided that he or she has completed the required 40
quarters of employment covered by Social Security. The Social Security benefit will compensate
in part for the reduction in the FERS annuity.
FERS disability annuities are adjusted for inflation beginning in the second year of payment. If
the CPI has increased by 2.0% or less during the year ending on September 30, the FERS cost-of-
living adjustment in the following January is equal to the percentage change in the CPI. If the CPI
has increased by more than 2.0% but less than 3.0%, the FERS COLA is 2.0%. If the CPI has
increased by 3.0% or more, the FERS COLA is one percentage point less than the increase in the
CPI.
12 The Social Security Act deems anyone who earns more than a certain monthly amount to be engaging in substantial
gainful activity (SGA). In 2013, the monthly SGA amount for statutorily blind individuals is $1,740. For non-blind
individuals, the monthly SGA amount for 2013 is $1,040. SGA for the blind does not apply to Supplemental Security
Income (SSI), while SGA for the non-blind disabled applies to both Social Security and SSI benefits. See 42 U.S.C.
§423(d).
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Disability Retirement for Federal Employees
FERS Annuity Adjustment for Periods of Workers’ Compensation
FERS retirement benefits consist of the FERS annuity, Social Security, and the Thrift Savings
Plan. P.L. 108-92 (October 3, 2003) changed the computation of the FERS annuity for federal
employees who are injured on the job. An injured employee cannot contribute to Social Security
or to the Thrift Savings Plan while receiving workers’ compensation. Social Security taxes and
TSP contributions must be paid from earnings, and workers’ compensation payments are not
classified as earnings under either the Social Security Act or the Internal Revenue Code. As a
result, the employee’s future retirement income from Social Security and the TSP may be
reduced. P.L. 108-92 increased the FERS basic annuity from 1.0% of the individual’s high-three
average pay to 2.0% of high-three average pay for the duration of the period when the individual
received workers’ compensation. This is intended to replace income that may have been lost from
lower Social Security benefits and reduced income from the TSP.
Federal Employees’ Compensation Act13
Eligibility
The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) provides benefits to federal employees who
suffer a partial or total disability as the result of an injury incurred at work. In the event of the
worker’s death as the result of an on-the-job injury, FECA pays benefits to the worker’s surviving
dependents. FECA pays benefits only in the case of an illness, injury, or disability that is
determined by the OPM to be work-related. Federal workers are covered by FECA immediately
upon employment.
Benefits
FECA benefits consist of cash compensation, payment of medical expenses related to the illness
or injury, vocational rehabilitation assistance, and payment for attendant care services. The cash
payment is calculated as a percentage of average annual earnings prior to the individual’s injury
or death. FECA benefits are indexed annually to the rate of growth of the CPI. FECA benefits are
not subject to income taxes.
FECA cash compensation equals two-thirds of lost earning capacity if the worker has no
dependents or three-fourths of lost earning capacity if the worker has dependents. FECA
payments may not exceed 75% of the maximum rate of pay for grade GS-15 of the general
schedule, and in case of total disability, may not be less than the minimum pay for the GS-2 pay
grade. FECA cash benefits continue as long as the disability lasts. Compensation does not end
when the individual reaches retirement age. An injured employee may elect to receive a disability
retirement annuity instead of FECA benefits, but may not receive both simultaneously. If an
employee covered by FERS elects to receive FECA compensation, it will be reduced by the
amount of any Social Security benefits that are based on the period of his or her federal
employment. An election between FECA and a disability retirement annuity may be changed at
any time. For certain listed injuries, minimum cash benefits are provided, regardless of how long
the disability lasts. In case of injuries resulting from a specific incident, the employee’s full pay
13 5 USC, chapter 81. For more information on FECA, see CRS Report R42107, The Federal Employees’
Compensation Act (FECA): Workers’ Compensation for Federal Employees, by Scott Szymendera.
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Disability Retirement for Federal Employees
continues for the term of the disability up to a maximum of 45 days, after which regular FECA
compensation payments begin if the disability continues.
FECA Death Benefits
If a federal employee dies from a work-related injury, FECA pays cash compensation to the
worker’s surviving dependents. A surviving spouse receives annual compensation equal to 50%
of the worker’s last annual rate of pay. Benefits terminate if the surviving spouse remarries before
age 60, although in the event of remarriage before the age of 60, the surviving spouse is paid a
lump sum equal to two years of benefits. If the worker had both a spouse and dependent children,
the spouse’s benefit is equal to 45% of the worker’s last annual rate of pay, and each dependent
child receives a benefit equal to 15% of pay, up to a maximum family benefit equal to 75% of
pay. If the worker had dependent children but no spouse, the compensation is equal to 40% of pay
for one child and an additional 15% for each additional child up to a maximum of 75% of pay. A
dependent child’s benefit ends at the age of 19, unless he or she is incapable of self-support due to
disability. In some cases, other surviving dependent relatives, including parents, siblings,
grandparents, and grandchildren may be eligible for compensation, according to the extent of
their financial dependence on the deceased worker.
Death Gratuity Payment
Section 651 of P.L. 104-208, the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY1997,
authorizes the heads of federal agencies to pay a gratuity payment of up to $10,000 to the
executor of the estate of a federal employee who dies as the result of injury sustained in the
performance of official duties after August 1, 1990.14
Author Contact Information
Katelin P. Isaacs
Analyst in Income Security
kisaacs@crs.loc.gov, 7-7355
Acknowledgments
This report was originally prepared by former CRS Specialist Patrick Purcell. Please direct any inquiries to
the listed author.
14 Also see CRS Report RS21029, Survivor Benefits for Families of Civilian Federal Employees and Retirees, by
Katelin P. Isaacs.
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