Fedweek

The Office of Personnel Management and the Social Security Administration are conducting a test program that could fundamentally change the way the two agencies handle disability retirement applications by federal employees. The test project, called FEDMER for federal medical evidence of record, applies only to employees under the FERS retirement program who are living in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. and not all agencies are participating. Law requires anyone applying for disability benefits under FERS to also apply to Social Security since any FERS benefit is offset by any Social Security benefit, but the two programs have very different standards for paying benefits as well as different procedures. The test may be expanded in the future to CSRS-Offset employees.