CSRS Civil Service

Re tire ment 

Sys tem 

Retirement 

Facts 

4 

Dis abil ity

Re tire ment 

Un der the 

Civil Service 

Re tire ment 

Sys tem 

RI 83-4 

The Sept em ber 1996 edit ion is usable Revised Novem ber 1997

United States 

Office of 

Personnel 

Management 

Ret irement and 

Insurance 

Service 
Ad di tional retire ment infor ma tion and all publi cations of the U.S. Office of Person nel Manage ment 

listed in this pamphlet are available on the Internet. 

OPM Website — http://www.opm.gov/asd 
Table of Contents 

Page 

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
 

Eligibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
 

Computation of Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
 

Taxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
 

Additional Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
 

i 
In tro duc tion 

This pamphlet is an overview of disabil ity retirement under the Civil Service Retire ment System 

(CSRS). 

Eli gi bil ity 

If you become disabled during the course of your 

Fed eral career, you may be enti tled to a disabil ity 

an nu ity under the Civil Service Retire ment System. First of all, you must have completed at least 

5 years of Federal civil ian service. Second, while 

em ployed in a posi tion covered under the CSRS, 

you must have become disabled for “useful and 

ef fi cient service” in both your current 

po si tion and any other vacant posi tion at the same 

grade or pay level for which you are qualified. 

Bef ore you can be consid ered eligi ble for disability retire ment benefits, your employ ing agency 

must deter mine that you are not qualified for reassign ment to any other vacant posi tion within your 

agency and your commut ing area at the same 

grade or pay level of the posi tion you currently 

oc cupy. In addi tion, you or someone acting for 

you must file an appli ca tion for disabil ity retirement. Ask your servic ing person nel office for the 

ap pli ca tion form, Standard Form (SF) 2801. 

There is a strict time limit for filing an appli cation. The U.S. Office of Person nel Manage ment 

(OPM) can only waive it in very limited circumstances. The appli ca tion has complete filing 

in struc tions. Read these instruc tions and follow 

them carefully. 

You are “disabled” when the infor ma tion submitted indi cates that there is a service defi ciency, 

caused by disease or injury, of suffi cient degree 

to preclude useful and effi cient service. “Useful 

and effi cient service” means (1) either accept able

per form ance of the critical or essen tial elements 

of the posi tion or the ability to perform at that 

level; and (2) satis fac tory conduct and atten dance. 

Serv ice which is not “useful and effi cient” is a 

1 
level of perform ance or atten dance which, if it 

were to continue, would warrant denial of a 

within- grade increase, demo tion, separa tion, or 

other reme dial action. 

If you refuse reas sign ment to a posi tion at the 

same grade or pay level in the same commut ing 

area, your refusal termi nates the agency’s ob li gation to identify any other vacant posi tion and may 

dis qual ify you from further consid era tion for disabil ity retire ment. 

A claim for disabil ity retire ment must include 

docu men ta tion that clearly and specifi cally establishes: 

(1)	 A defi ciency in service with respect to perform ance, conduct, or atten dance, or in the 

ab sence of any actual service defi ciency, a 

show ing that the medical condi tion is incompati ble with either useful service or reten tion 

in the posi tion; 

(2)	 A medical condi tion defined as disease or 

in jury, includ ing psychi at ric disease; 

(3)	 That the medical condi tion caused the service 

de fi ciency; 

(4)	 The dura tion of the medical condi tion, both 

past and expected, and a showing that the 

con di tion, in all probabil ity, will continue for 

at least a year; 

(5)	 The inabil ity to provide useful and effi cient 

serv ice arose while serving under the Civil 

Serv ice Retire ment System; 

(6)	 The inabil ity of the employ ing agency to 

make reason able accom mo da tion to the medical condi tion; and 

2 
(7)	 The absence of another posi tion, within the 

em ploy ing agency and commut ing area, at the 

same grade or pay level and tenure, for which 

the employee is qualified for reas sign ment. 

Your agency will provide assis tance in obtain ing 

the required forms to obtain statements from your 

su per vi sors and attend ing physi cians and proof 

that your condi tion prevents you from perform ing 

use ful and effi cient service. If you are found to be 

dis abled as outlined above, your retire ment will 

be approved. Up to the age of 60, you will be subject to peri odic medical reevalu ation to deter mine 

whether the disabling condi tion contin ues to exist, and an annual review of your earn ings to deter mine whether you are “restored to earning 

ca pac ity.” 

Com pu ta tion of Benefits 

The annu ity you are paid if you retire because of 

dis abil ity is the higher of two figures: 

(1)	 the first figure is the amount of your “earned 

an nu ity” (your earned annu ity is a percent age 

of your highest 3 years’ aver age salary which 

is based on the service you have actu ally performed); 

(2)	 the second figure is the guaran teed minimum 

dis abil ity annu ity. This guaran teed minimum 

is the lower of — 

•	 40 percent of the highest 3 years’ aver age sal­ ary or, 

•	 the earned annu ity you would get if your 

length of service were extended to age 60. 

Note:	 The disabil ity benefit will usually 

equal the earned benefit (#1 above) 

if you have approxi mately 22 or 

more years of Federal service, or if 

you are age 60 or older when you 

re tire. 

If you are receiv ing military retired 

or retainer pay, or compen sa tion 

3 
from the Depart ment of Veter ans 

Af fairs in lieu of such pay, your disabil ity annu ity will also be based on 

the earned benefit, unless the sum of 

this earned benefit and your military 

bene fit is less than the guaran teed 

mini mum (#2 above). In that case, 

your earned benefit will be increased 

un til the sum of the earned benefit 

and the military benefit equals the 

guar an teed minimum amount. 

The “earned annu ity” is simply the sum of 1.5 

per cent of the highest 3 years’ aver age salary 

(high-3) times the first 5 years of service, plus 

1.75 percent of the high-3 times the next 5 years, 

plus 2 percent of the high-3 times service over 10 

years. 

As an illus tra tion, if you had been employed for 

12 years before becom ing disabled at age 40 (and 

as sume a high-3 aver age salary of $20,000), you 

ob tain the “earned annu ity”—the amount needed 

un der (1) above—as follows: 

.015 x 5 years = 7.50% 

.0175 x 5 years = 8.75% 

.02 x 2 years = 4.00% 

(Earned annual annu ity) 20.25% 

($4,050) 

Ob vi ously, the earned annu ity is less than 40 percent of the high-3. The next step is to compare 40 

per cent of the high-3 to the compu ta tion projecting your service to age 60 to see which is less. To 

do this, you would add 20 years to the earned 

an nu ity compu ta tion above (age 60 minus actual 

40 years of age in our exam ple = 20). 

.02 x addi tional 20 years = 40.0% 

(Earned annu ity) + 20.25% 

(Pro jected to age 60) 60.25% 

($12,050) 

4 
In the exam ple, 40 percent of the high-3 is less 

than the result obtained by project ing the length 

of service to age 60, so 40 percent of the high-3 

($8,000 per year) would be payable. This is 

be cause of the rule requir ing that the lesser of 40 

per cent of the high-3 or the projected service formula is used. 

If you were age 56 at the time you became disabled and had been employed for 24 years, the 

com pu ta tion, using the same formula and aver age 

sal ary, would look like this: 

.015 x $20,000 x 5 years = 7.5% 

.0175 x $20,000 x 5 year = 8.75% 

.02 x $20,000 x 14 years = 28.0% 

(Earned annu ity) 44.25% 

($8,850) 

Since the earned annu ity is more than the 40 percent figure, there is no need to compare it to the 

com pu ta tion project ing your service to age 60. 

The earned annu ity will be used whenever it is 

more than 40 percent of your high-3. 

Taxes 

Un der current law there is no Federal tax benefit 

un less the taxpayer is totally disabled for all 

gain ful employ ment. Since the U.S. Office of 

Per son nel Manage ment’s (OPM’s) deci sion on 

your appli ca tion must be based only on whether 

you are disabled for your current posi tion, or 

a vacant posi tion of equal grade or pay, a finding 

of disabil ity by OPM may not meet the Inter nal 

Reve nue Service’s crite ria. If your appli ca tion is 

based partly on the belief that Civil Service 

dis abil ity retire ment will result in a tax 

ad van tage, you should check with your local 

In ter nal Revenue Office for current tax infor mation. 

5 
Ad di tional Infor ma tion 

You may obtain copies of the pamphlets listed 

be low from your person nel office, from OPM’s 

Web site (http:\\www.opm.gov\asd), or from OPM 

ON LINE (OPM’s electronic bulle tin board) at 

(202) 606-4800. To access OPM ONLINE, your 

com mu ni ca tions software should be set to the follow ing: 

Baud: Up to 28,800
 

Par ity: None
 

Data bits: 8
 

Stop bit: 1
 

Pam phlets in the Retire ment Facts Series provide 

more detailed infor ma tion about the Civil Service 

Re tire ment System (CSRS): 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #1 - The Civil Service Retire ment 

Sys tem (RI 83-1) 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #2 - Military Service Credit 

Under the Civil Service Retire ment System (RI 83-2) 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #3 - Depos its and Rede pos its 

Un der the Civil Service Retire ment System 

(RI 83-3) 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #4 - Disabil ity Retire ment Under 

the Civil Service Retire ment System (RI 83-4) 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #5 - Survi vor Benefits Under the 

Civil Service Retire ment System (RI 83-5) 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #6 - Early Retire ment Under the 

Civil Service Retire ment System (RI 83-6) 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #7 - Comput ing Retire ment 

Bene fits Under the Civil Service Retire ment System 

(RI 83-7) 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #8 - Credit for Unused Sick Leave 

Un der the Civil Service Retire ment System 

(RI 83-8) 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #9 - Refunds Under the Civil 

Serv ice Retire ment System (RI 83-9) 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #10 - Volun tary Contri bu tions 

Un der the Civil Service Retire ment System 

(RI 83-10) 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #11 - Infor ma tion for Separat ing 

Civil Service Retire ment System Employ ees Who 

Are Not Eligi ble for an Imme di ate Annu ity 

(RI 83-13) 

6 
•	 Re tire ment Facts #12 - Infor ma tion About 

Re em ploy ment for Civil Service Retire ment Sys­ tem Annui tants (RI 83-18) 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #13 - Civil Service Retire ment 

Sys tem Offset Retire ment (RI 83-19) 

•	 Re tire ment Facts #14 - Law Enforce ment and 

Fire fighter Civil Service Retire ment System 

(RI 83-20) 

Pam phlets appli ca ble to employ ees in both the 

Civil Service Retire ment System (CSRS) and 

Fed eral Employ ees Retire ment System (FERS) 

are: 

•	 Court- Ordered Benefits for Former Spouses 

(RI 84-1) 

•	 Work- Related Inju ries and Fatali ties — What You 

and Your Family Need to Know About Your 

Bene fits (RI 84-2) 

•	 Life Events and Your Retire ment Insur ance Bene­ fits (For Employ ees) (RI 84-3) 

• Think ing About Retire ment? (RI 83-11) 

Pub li ca tions for employ ees who are under the 

Fed eral Employ ees Retire ment System (FERS) 

are: 

•	 FERS Brochure (An Overview of Your Benefits) 

(RI 90-1) 

•	 FERS Facts #1 - Infor ma tion for Separat ing FERS 

Em ploy ees Who Are Not Eligi ble for an Imme di ate 

An nu ity (RI 90-11) 

•	 FERS Facts #2 - Infor ma tion About Reem ploy­ ment for FERS Annui tants (RI 90-18) 

For employ ees who are eligi ble to transfer to the 

FERS: 

•	 FERS Transfer Handbook (A Guide to Making 

Your Deci sion) (RI 90-3) 

7 
Pam phlets on the Federal Employ ees Health and 

Life Insur ance Programs are: 

• Fed eral Employ ees Health Benefits Guide (RI 70-1) 

•	 Tem po rary Continua tion of Cover age (TCC) under 

the Federal Employ ees Health Benefits Program 

(RI 79-27) 

•	 Fed eral Employ ees Group Life Insur ance Booklet 

(RI 76-21) 

8 
Notes 

9
 
Notes 

10
 
Notes 

11
 
Re tire ment & Insur ance Service 

Serv ing over 10 million custom ers, Fed eral employ ees, 

an nui tants, and their families