The following is a question submitted by a reader to Federal Times columnist Reg Jones, a charter member of the senior executive service and the resident expert on federal employee retirement issues.
A Fed Times reader asks:
“I work for the USPS, and I am presently out of work in a leave without pay status. My case was approved by the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs.
I am presently receiving OWCP payments classified as ‘total temporary disability’ payments. I am 72 years old and although my full retirement age was 66, I waited until I was 70 years old to collect my SS.
My question is that I am now 72 years old and have been collecting my Social Security payments for the past two years, I am collecting both my Social Security and the federal temporary total disability payment.
Am I subject to an offset in my Social Security now that I am receiving both?”
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Reg’s response:
It seems that since you are a CSRS employee who had outside earnings covered by Social Security and because you have reached your full Social Security retirement age, nothing prevents you from receiving both your workers’ compensation payments and a Social Security benefit.
Because you have already reached your full retirement age under Social Security, you may earn OWCP benefits without a reduction in you Social Security benefit.
Got a question for the Federal Times expert? Send inquiries to: fedexperts@federaltimes.com.
Reg Jones, a charter member of the senior executive service, is our resident expert on retirement and the federal government. From 1979 to '95, he served as an assistant director of the Office of Personnel Management handling recruiting and examining, white and blue collar pay, retirement, insurance and other issues. Opinions expressed are his own.
