How to Get Medically Retired From Your Job: Eligibility, Forms, and Pay

To get medically retired from your job, you apply through one of three systems depending on your employer: military disability retirement if you serve on active duty or in certain reserve components, federal civilian disability retirement through the Office of Personnel Management if you work for the U.S. government, or long-term disability through your insurer if you work in the private sector. In every case, you have to prove that a specific medical condition prevents you from performing the duties of your specific job, and each system has its own forms, evidence rules, and filing deadlines that can end your claim if you miss them.

Figure Out Which System Applies to You

There is no single medical retirement program. Which one you use is decided by who employs you, and the rules do not cross over.

Active-duty service members and certain reservists go through the Department of Defense under Title 10, Chapter 61 of the U.S. Code. If a condition makes you unfit for military duty, you may be retired with disability pay rather than simply separated.¹

Federal civilian employees apply through OPM under either the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). The system covering you determines your service requirement and how your annuity is calculated, so confirm that first.²

Private-sector workers usually rely on long-term disability (LTD) insurance, either an employer group plan or an individual policy. There is no government agency deciding your claim. Your insurer does, using the policy language, and if the plan comes through your employer it is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

Check Whether You Qualify

Qualifying under one system tells you nothing about the others. The bar is different in each.

Military

You must be found unfit for duty because of a physical disability, and one of two things must be true: you have 20 or more years of service, or the disability is rated at 30 percent or higher on the VA rating schedule. If your rating is below 30 percent and you have fewer than 20 years, you’ll be separated with severance rather than retired.¹ If your condition has not stabilized enough for a permanent decision, you can be placed on the Temporary Disability Retired List (TDRL) and receive retired pay while the Department of Defense makes a final determination, which must happen within three years.

Federal Civilian

FERS employees need at least 18 months of creditable civilian service. CSRS employees need five years.³ Beyond service, OPM must find that you cannot render “useful and efficient service” in your current position because of disease or injury. That phrase has a specific meaning in the regulations: you cannot acceptably perform the critical elements of your job, or you cannot maintain satisfactory conduct and attendance.⁴ Your agency must also certify that it cannot reassign you to a vacant position at the same grade where you could work effectively.⁵

Private LTD

Eligibility is whatever your policy says it is. Most policies require “total disability,” but the definition varies. Some define it as being unable to perform your own occupation. Others use the tougher standard of being unable to perform any occupation for which you are reasonably qualified. Many plans start with own-occupation for the first two years and then switch to any-occupation, which is a common point at which benefits end.

Nearly all LTD policies also include an elimination period, typically 90 to 180 days, before benefits start. You need short-term disability, saved leave, or savings to bridge that gap.

Prove the Job-to-Condition Link

The most common reason applications fail is not the severity of the condition but the weakness of the documentation. A diagnosis by itself does not get you retired. What every reviewer needs is a specific connection between your medical condition and the duties of your specific job.

Generic doctor statements like “patient is unable to work” carry little weight. Specific ones do: “patient cannot stand for more than 15 minutes due to lumbar radiculopathy, which prevents performing the physical requirements of the position.” Your physicians need to name the job functions you cannot perform and explain, in plain terms, why.

Records also need to be current. A two-year-old diagnosis without recent treatment notes suggests either recovery or noncompliance, and neither helps you. Gather detailed diagnoses, treatment histories, physician statements describing functional limitations, and objective results like imaging and lab work. Records you request yourself under federal privacy rights are generally cheaper to obtain than records requested by an attorney or third party; per-page charges range from under a dollar to several dollars depending on the provider and state.

Then pull the employment side of the picture. Military applicants need their service medical treatment records. Federal civilian and private-sector employees should collect the official position description, recent performance evaluations, and leave records showing disability-related absences. Those documents let a reviewer see the gap between what the job requires and what your condition allows.

File the Right Forms in the Right Place

Each system starts differently.

In the military, you do not file an application in the ordinary sense. The process is initiated through your chain of command and your medical treatment facility. A Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) referral opens the case, and a Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) makes the fitness and rating determination.¹

For federal civilian disability retirement, you need Standard Form 3107 (the retirement application) and the SF 3112 series, which includes your personal statement of disability (SF 3112A), a physician’s statement (SF 3112C), and your agency’s certification (SF 3112D). If you are still employed, you submit the package through your agency, which adds its certification and forwards the file to OPM. If you have been separated more than 31 days, you file directly with OPM.³

For private LTD, call the number on your policy or benefits card and request a claim packet. The forms typically have sections completed separately by you, your treating physician, and your employer.

Watch the Deadlines

Two deadlines regularly end otherwise valid claims.

If you have already separated from federal service, you have one year from your separation date to file a disability retirement application with OPM. Miss it and you lose the right to apply, no matter how disabled you are.³

If you are denied and want to appeal, the clock starts fast. Federal civilian appeals to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) must generally be filed within 30 days of OPM’s final decision. For an ERISA-governed private LTD denial, federal regulations require the insurer to give you at least 180 days to file an internal appeal.⁶

Know What You’ll Be Paid

Before you apply, run the numbers. The amount varies sharply by system, and it changes how you plan around insurance, housing, and other benefits.

Military Disability Retired Pay

Disability retired pay is generally calculated as your disability rating percentage multiplied by your base pay. With 20 or more years of service, you can instead use the longevity formula (years of service times 2.5 percent of base pay) and take the higher of the two. The minimum rating for retirement is 30 percent, which sets the floor for the disability-based calculation.¹

If you also draw VA disability compensation, federal law historically required a dollar-for-dollar offset from your military retired pay. Two programs restore some of it. Concurrent Retirement and Disability Payments (CRDP) phases out the offset for retirees rated at 50 percent or higher with 20 or more years of service. Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) pays tax-free amounts for combat-related disabilities and also requires 20 years of service; you apply for CRSC separately through your branch.⁷

FERS and CSRS Annuities

FERS disability retirement pays 60 percent of your high-3 average salary during the first 12 months, minus 100 percent of any Social Security disability benefit you receive. Starting in month 13 and continuing until age 62, the annuity drops to 40 percent of your high-3, minus 60 percent of your Social Security disability benefit.³ At 62, OPM recalculates using the standard FERS formula as if you had worked continuously to that age.

Because the Social Security offset is mandatory, OPM strongly encourages FERS disability retirees to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) at the same time. If you qualify, the combined payment leaves you better off than the FERS annuity alone.

CSRS disability retirement generally uses the standard CSRS formula (years of service and high-3), with a guaranteed minimum equal to the lesser of 40 percent of your high-3 or the annuity you would have earned with additional service to age 60.

Private LTD Benefits

Most group LTD policies replace 50 to 70 percent of your pre-disability base salary, often with a monthly cap in the range of $5,000 to $15,000. Many policies offset amounts you receive from Social Security disability, workers’ compensation, or other sources, so your total disability income stays at the policy’s replacement percentage rather than stacking. Individual policies tend to have fewer offsets and higher premiums.

Protect Your Health Coverage on the Way Out

Leaving a job for disability makes coverage more important, and the rule that trips people up most is on the federal civilian side.

Federal civilian disability retirees can carry Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) into retirement only if they were continuously enrolled in an FEHB plan for the five years immediately before the annuity begins, or for the full period since their first enrollment opportunity if that is less than five years.⁸ If you dropped FEHB at any point in that window, you may lose the ability to keep it in retirement.

Military members retired on the Permanent Disability Retired List or the TDRL keep TRICARE eligibility, including TRICARE Prime, TRICARE Select, and TRICARE For Life once enrolled in Medicare Parts A and B. Eligible family members also keep coverage.⁹

Private-sector employees usually have the right to continue employer coverage under COBRA for up to 18 months, paying the full premium plus a 2 percent administrative fee. After COBRA, marketplace coverage may be an option, and if your disability qualifies you for SSDI, Medicare begins 24 months after your SSDI entitlement date.

How the Decision Gets Made

The review procedure differs by system, and so do the timelines.

In the military, the MEB at your treatment facility documents your conditions and determines whether any of them fail retention standards. If they do, the case goes to a PEB, which decides whether you are fit for duty and, if not, recommends a rating and whether you will be retired or separated.¹ You can accept the findings or request a formal hearing. The full process can run from several months to over a year.

For federal civilians, OPM processed initial retirement applications, including disability cases, in about 71 days as of early 2026.¹⁰ Complex cases with incomplete documentation or medical questions take longer. You are responsible for the cost of the medical evidence OPM needs to evaluate your claim.⁵

Private insurers review claims using their own medical staff and may send you to an independent medical examination with a physician they choose. They compare your evidence against the policy definition, your job description, and sometimes labor market data on alternative occupations. Initial decisions typically take 30 to 90 days, longer if the insurer requests additional records or exams.

Try Reasonable Accommodation First

In the federal and private sectors, expect your employer to consider reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act before medical retirement is on the table. Accommodations can include changes to duties, schedule, equipment, or workspace. Reassignment to a vacant position at the same level is a last-resort accommodation that must be attempted before an employer concludes nothing more can be done.¹¹

For federal disability retirement, OPM requires the agency to certify that it cannot accommodate you or reassign you to a position where you could provide useful and efficient service. If the agency has not genuinely explored accommodations, that certification is vulnerable and your application is incomplete. If accommodations have been tried and failed, the documented history of those attempts strengthens your retirement application.

If You’re Denied

A denial is not the end, but every appeal path has its own procedure and deadline.

After a formal PEB decision, military members can appeal to their branch’s Board for Correction of Military Records, an administrative body that reviews whether the original decision was legally or factually wrong.

Federal civilians denied by OPM can request reconsideration with additional medical evidence. If reconsideration is also denied, the next step is an appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board, generally within 30 days of the final decision. On an MSPB retirement appeal, you carry the burden of proving your entitlement to disability retirement.¹²

For ERISA-governed LTD plans, the insurer must give you at least 180 days to file an internal appeal.⁶ Use it to submit every piece of new medical evidence you have; a different reviewer than the one who issued the denial must consider the appeal. If the internal appeal is also denied, you can sue in federal court, but review is generally limited to the administrative record you already built. That makes the internal appeal the stage where the case is won or lost. On a contingency basis, ERISA attorney fees typically run 25 to 40 percent of recovered benefits. Social Security disability appeals have a separate fee structure capped at the lesser of 25 percent of past-due benefits or $9,200.

Working After You’re Medically Retired

Medical retirement does not always mean you can never earn money, but every system has limits.

FERS disability retirees under age 60 face an earning capacity test. If your earnings in any calendar year reach or exceed 80 percent of the current salary for the position you retired from, OPM treats your earning capacity as restored and stops your annuity six months after the end of that year.¹³ If your earnings later fall back below 80 percent and you are under age 62, you can ask OPM to reinstate the annuity. After 60, there is no earning restriction on FERS disability retirees.

If you draw SSDI alongside a federal or private benefit, Social Security’s Trial Work Period lets you test working. In 2026, any month you earn $1,210 or more counts as a trial work month, and you get nine trial work months within a rolling 60-month period before SSA evaluates whether you can sustain substantial work.¹⁴

Private LTD policies vary. Some allow partial work with reduced benefits. Others cut off benefits entirely if you earn any income. Read the return-to-work provisions of your policy before accepting even part-time or freelance work, because the wrong paycheck can end an approved claim.

Approval is also not always final. FERS and CSRS disability retirees under age 60 are examined at the end of their first year on the rolls and annually thereafter, unless OPM finds the disability permanent.² After 60, reevaluations stop. Military TDRL members are reevaluated during their time on the list, with a final decision within three years. Private insurers reevaluate on their own schedule, and failing to cooperate can end benefits.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC Chapter 61 – Retirement or Separation for Physical Disability
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC Chapter 84 – Federal Employees Retirement System
3
OPM. Chapter 60 – Disability Retirement
4
eCFR. 5 CFR Part 844 – Federal Employees Retirement System – Disability Retirement
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC Chapter 83 – Retirement
6
eCFR. 29 CFR 2560.503-1 – Claims Procedure
7
Military Compensation and Financial Readiness. New Retired Benefits Program
8
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Eligibility
9
TRICARE. Retired Service Members and Families
10
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Retirement Processing Times
11
EEOC. Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under ADA
12
U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. Appellant Questions and Answers
13
OPM. Information About Disability Retirement (FERS)
14
Social Security Administration. Fact Sheet – Trial Work Period 2026