Can a Federal Employee or Postal Worker have their Federal Disability Retirement Reinstated?

If the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) decides one day that you are "restored to earning capacity" or "medically recovered", OPM will stop paying your federal disability retirement annuity.

This can often happen when the civil service annuity was granted for a mental health condition in which there is a possibility of recovery or medical improvement.  (Examples include major depressive disorder, PTSD, anxiety or stress disorders, etc.)

These conditions can often "ebb and flow" - improving for a period of time, only to return to the disabling state at a later time. If OPM has terminated your disability retirement annuity because your condition improved - can you reinstate your federal disability retirement when the condition gets worse?  The answer is yes.

The standards for seeking reinstatement are somewhat different depending on the reasons your annuity was terminated by OPM in the first place.

If your Federal disability retirement annuity was stopped when OPM concluded  you recovered from your disabling medical condition, the regulations say that OPM may reinstate your annuity, "...as of the date of a current medical examination showing that the disability for which you retired has recurred" when you can show:

1. You are not currently employed in a position subject to retirement coverage;
2. You have not established new title to an annuity (immediate or deferred), due to re-employment after your disability annuity was terminated;
3. You are not age 62 or older; and,
4. You have not been restored to earning capacity.

If OPM stopped your Federal disability retirement annuity because they concluded you were restored to earning capacity, the annuity may be reinstated "...effective the first of the year following any calendar year in which your earning capacity falls below the 80% limitation...", so long as:

1. You are not currently employed in a position subject to retirement coverage;
2. You have not established new title to an annuity (immediate or deferred), due to re-employment after your disability annuity was terminated;
3. You are not age 62 or older; and,
4. You have not medically recovered from the disability for which you retired.

If you seek reinstatement of previously terminated federal disability retirement annuity benefits, the process is the same: apply to OPM first.   If you are denied, seek reconsideration.  If OPM still denies reinstatement after the reconsideration request, file an appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).