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Civil Service Disability Retirement Program

FPCD-81-18 Published: Dec 15, 1980. Publicly Released: Dec 15, 1980.
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Highlights

In reports issued in 1976 and 1978, GAO recommended several changes to the disability retirement program which would serve to retain marginally disabled yet potentially productive employees. In addition to reviewing the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) actions on the previous recommendations, GAO examined the processes used in adjudicating disability retirement claims and monitoring the disability rolls and reviewed a sample of disability annuitants.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Personnel Management The Director of OPM should amend the proposed regulatory revisions to (1) establish the same placement rights for disabled employees as those available to recovered disability retirees, (2) include reassignment of disabled employees across agency lines, and (3) discontinue advising employees to reduce their sick leave balance to 60 days before filing for disability retirement. Also, he should (1) include, as part of the placement policy, the downgrading of potential disability retirees to jobs with duties they can perform, and seek a statutory change, if necessary, to enable this action; (2) develop procedures which will establish complete and timely earnings and medical reviews of disability annuitants; and (3) develop disability case review procedures which provide for medical reviews of annuitants classified as permanently disabled but who display strong individual annual earnings.
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Topics

Civil service retirement systemCompensationDisability benefitsEmployee medical benefitsEmploymentFederal employee disability programsIncome maintenance programsMedical examinationsPersonnel managementRetireesRetirement benefitsSick leave