Posts Tagged ‘federal’

Sometimes a federal employee will be hurt on the job and won’t be able to continue performing his or her duties. There are times when those agencies will just move those employees into a position with limited or light responsibilities, but sometimes an employee won’t have the ability to do those jobs either. In these cases, they must submit to the OPM a federal disability retirement claim.

The OPM, of Office of Personnel Management, has a number of policies that are not always the easiest to navigate. The OPM federal disability retirement conditions require that documents are submitted according to certain rules that must be strictly followed. Even as a federal employee, you may want to consider consulting with a layer to make sure everything is done right.

If you are enrolled in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), you may be eligible with the OPM for federal disability retirement annuities. This program will pay a portion of your wages for the rest of your life, no matter how the actual condition occurred.

It is also important to note that employees are eligible for these programs even if the condition occurred prior to employment. You simply have to show that you have satisfactorily performed your job for’ months for FERS or five years for CSRS.

The OPM federal disability retirement policy is also different from the social security disability program. Under the CSRS and FERS programs you don’t have to prove “total disability.” You simply have to show that you are disabled from performing one or more of your essential duties. That means you’ll be covered if an accident on the job causes you to lose your income.

Once a claim has been filed with the OPM, an employee can continue to work in a lighter job if they need the income to make ends meet. It can take a while for a claim to be processed, so this might be necessary. You can even receive the retirement annuity and get another job, as long as the new income does not exceed 80% of the current income.

As much as we try to avoid them, unfortunate circumstances can happen to any of us. We can suddenly find ourselves without an income because of a disabling condition. As a federal employee, though, these programs can make sure you’ll always be covered.

It’s important to get all the basics right from the very beginning when you file a claim with the OPM. Federal disability retirement benefits will only be awarded if all the regulations are followed and the proper documents and proof of disability is provided. If you need a lawyer to help you get things sorted out, don’t hesitate to seek their assistance.

Stephanie Martin government worker working in the Office of Personal Management. She understands thoroughly Federal Disability Retirement and OPM disability retirement.

Finding yourself in debt is not a fun experience for anyone, but finding that you owe the government money and are behind in the payments can be devastating. For those facing bad federal debt, relief may be available in many forms, but caution must be exercised when deciding which road to travel. Some of the avenues with signs pointing to bad federal debt relief may simply be a detour to additional financial anxiety.

There are two major areas that can produce federal debt for individuals, being behind in paying their income taxes and defaulting on federal student loans. Legal troubles can also add to the debt if federal fines have been added to a criminal history. However, for the vast majority of individuals bad federal debt relief is about finding ways out of owing tons of money in past due taxes and fines as well as over due education loans.

While bankruptcy is the most efficient tool for eliminating unsecured debt, new federal laws, as  well as the old ones, do not allow for bad federal debt relief on money owed for taxes and defaulted school loans. There are certain circumstances in which a portion of past due taxes may be included in a petition for bankruptcy, but a lot depends on how long the debt has been owed and amount that has accumulated.

No Such Thing As A Free Education

In the recent past, many students would take out federally insured student loans for their higher education and after graduation, before they starting working would file for bankruptcy, leaving their Uncle Sam holding the bill for their education. Today, eliminating this bad federal debt relief on loans on which they have defaulted is considerably tougher.

Before a student loan is even considered for bankruptcy, the student has to prove that being required to repay the loan would place them in a critical financial hardship. However, finding bad federal debt relief for student loans is often made tougher through bankruptcy, with the government arguing that with all other financial obligations removed through the court, the hardship of paying back the loans is much reduced.

Similar to bad loans in the private sector, when dealing with bad federal debt relief it is best to communnicate with the office to which the debt is owed and try to make arrangements to minimize the affects of the potential collection process. In most cases, explaining how you arrived in the current position and what you are doing to recover is usually enough to find at least temporary bad federal debt relief.

For more information please visit my Debt Relief – Debt Relief Service Management Website..