BASIC (09-08)

CSRS disability benefits are paid by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to disabled federal employees covered under the CSRS. Recipients of CSRS benefits are called annuitants and the benefits are known as disability pensions or annuities. CSRS disability benefits are paid monthly.

A. Applying offset to CSRS disability benefits

Apply offset unless one of the exclusions in DI 52130.001 – Types of Federal Public Disability Benefit (PDB) Payments is met. Offset the gross amount of CSRS disability before any deductions. Life or health insurance premiums and other payroll type deductions are not excludable expenses.

B. CSRS disability terminating events and discontinued service pensions

A civil service (CS) disability benefit may mistakenly be referred to as a retirement benefit because it is based on length of service. However, eligibility for the disability pension is based on both disability and the total length of service.

Terminating events for a CSRS disability pension include death, medical improvement and restoration of earnings capacity. Following the termination, the individual may receive a discontinued service pension based only on length of service. Terminate offset when the CSRS disability pension terminates. Do not offset discontinued service pensions.

NOTE: If the individual needs to be disabled in order to receive the pension, it is not a discontinued service pension. For initial claims, the Modernized Claim System Earnings Computation (MCS EC) Civil Service Data (DCSD) screen will show a Y in the CS DIB field when the CSRS pension is based on disability.

C. CSRS Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)

Apply offset to CSRS COLAs. The COLA is limited for the first year a federal CS pension is received. The individual receives one-twelfth of the COLA for each month of the calendar year that the individual was entitled to the pension. COLAs are paid in full in succeeding years.

D. CSRS offset disability benefits

Federal employees who had at least 5 years of CSRS service on January 1, 1987 and who meet or met some other requirements may continue to be covered by CSRS while paying into Social Security on their federal wages. These employees may be entitled to both Social Security and CSRS Offset disability payments. The CSRS Offset disability payments are reduced by the amount of the Social Security disability (DIB) payment that is attributable to the CSRS Offset employment, but this should not be confused with reverse offset. Apply offset to the reduced benefit before any deductions if none of the covered service exceptions in DI 52130.001 applies.

NOTE: OPM uses data provided by SSA to compute the CSRS offset. For more information, see RS 00605.300 - Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) Offset.