This past weekend, several members of our Harris Federal team attended the 20th annual Workers Injury Law and Advocacy Group (WILG) Convention in Chicago. We are proud to say two of our attorneys, Brad Harris and Leah Bachmeyer Kille, were featured for their...
As with most lines of work, a career in public service has its pros and cons. Among the more enviable aspects is an attractive retirement package. For federal employees, the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a significant component of retirement, which needs to be...
If you receive Federal Disability Retirement benefits, you may have heard about cost-of-living adjustments, or COLA. A question many disability retirees may have is, "Why should I care about a COLA increase?" We found a good explanation by turning to the AARP...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that public-sector workers are five times more likely than private-sector workers to be union members and that a slightly higher share of federal employees were represented by unions in 2014 than in 2013. Some 7.2 million...
You deserve to enjoy financial security during your retirement years. The best way to ensure that happens is to start planning now. Harris Federal Law Firm encourages you to ask yourself these three questions: When do I plan to retire? What will my expenses be when I...
It has been over two years since Congress passed a law allowing for a “phased retirement” program. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has recently released the final rules governing how it works and who is eligible. What these new rules allow may interest you if...
If you retired under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and are seeking re-employment with the federal government, you need to know how this will affect the retirement benefits you have been receiving. The...
The simple answer is “Yes, you can continue to work.” This can get complex, but the basic reasoning is that Federal Disability Retirement from the OPM is given to anyone with a medical condition that prevents them from being fully successful at their job. They must...
Perhaps the hardest part about deciding to file for disability retirement benefits from the OPM is knowing when it is time to retire. We get calls from hundreds of federal employees every week and while many of them know that they can’t keep doing their job on a full...
Short answer: Yes! You do have to apply for Social Security Disability! If you are a FERS employee and are filing for federal disability retirement, you are required to apply for disability benefits from the Social Security Administration. A copy of the receipt from...
The OPM, or Office of Personnel Management, functions as an extension of each federal agency’s human resource department. They administer all of the federal employee retirement benefits, insurance programs, as well as assist each agency with their hiring processes....
The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) plays a major role in a federal employee’s disability retirement claim if the applicant has been denied twice by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Read on to learn more about the role of the MSPB in your Federal...
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