Nothing works in a vacuum. Issues surround medical disabilities, the Federal and Postal workforce, Social Security Disability benefits, and Federal Disability Retirement benefits, as well as temporary total disability benefits received from the Department of Labor, Office of Worker’s Compensation Programs — they all intersect in one way or another, and the intersection of all of the issues create a maze of confusion which is often difficult for the Federal or Postal worker to successfully maneuver through the multiple landmines, dead-ends and potential traps.
Such intersecting difficulties also arise in what the Postal Service has initiated in the last few years — the “National Reassessment Program” — a euphemism for a massive attempt to get rid of anyone and anyone who is not fully productive. Under this program, the Postal Service is essentially getting rid of all light-duty assignments; and, of course, such a program intersects with Federal Worker’s Comp, because many light-duty or “modified duty” employees are under the umbrella of OWCP-offered work assignments and modified positions and duties. People are sent home with the reason given that there is no longer any “light duty” jobs; they are then instructed or forced into filing for OWCP benefits; whether Worker’s Comp will actually pay for temporary total disability is a big question mark.
Ultimately, I believe that the answer will be found in filing for OPM Federal Disability Retirement benefits. The NRP (National Reassessment Program) is simply a macrocosmic approach of a large agency (the U.S. Postal Service), mirroring a microcosmic approach (the approach of most agencies towards individual Federal or Postal employees who have a medical condition which prevents him or her from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job) in dealing with “less than fully productive” Federal or Postal employees. Then, of course, there is the intersecting issue of filing for Social Security Disability benefits, which you have to do anyway, under FERS — but whether one actually gets it, is another issue. All of these issues intersect; rarely are these issues isolated; the consequential impact of all of these issues need to be viewed in a macro manner.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Accommodation and Light Duty, Important Cases, Legal Updates and/or the Current Process Waiting Time, Resigning or Being Separated From a Federal Agency for Medical Problems or Other Reasons, U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Disability Retirement | Tagged: A Re-Assessment in the Value of Disabled Postal Workers: NRP, attention federal worker - when the agency wants you to resign, condition that prevents to perform the essential functions, disability retirement for federal employees, disabled workers in the us postal service, excessing light duty from post office, federal workers's potential potential traps in the road towards stability, future of limited duty us postal employees, how the postal service is getting rid of all its light duty employees, injury compensation and light limited duty, intersecting medical issues for disabled federal employees, issues surrounding disability intersect each other, light duty federal employees and the social security, light duty jobs USPS, limited duty and rehab employees in the postal service, limited duty assignments united states postal service, limited duty postal service, limited jobs for light duty employees, National Reassessment Process (NRP), nationwide representation of federal employees, no light duty jobs in the usps with the recession, no workers comp "retirement" instead opm disability retirement, nrp and the "re-assessment" that rehabs are worth nothing by sending them home, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP), OPM disability retirement, OWCP benefits for federal workers, post office light duty, postal and social security disability, Postal disability retirement, postal reform package and the future of light duty employees, postal service layoffs of light duty employees, representing federal employees from any us government agency, representing federal employees in and outside the country, scaring disabled workers so they resign without getting any benefits, Social Security and OPM disability relationship, the light duty postal employee considering ssdi benefits, the program that "re-assess" a wrong value to postal employees: nrp, The USPS Limited Duty NRP, US Postal Service NRP, USPS disability retirement benefits, usps limited duty jobs, USPS Workers Comp, value of a human being not defined by disabilities, when excessing light duty from usps then consider disability, when light duty is not longer available to postal workers | 1 Comment »
