The reason why workplace issues, whether having any relevance in a Federal Disability Retirement application or not, continue to be insidious in their persistent appearance and stubborn insistence upon dominating an Applicant’s Statement of Disability, is because they are often perceived to be the originating cause (or so it is often thought to be by the Applicant who is preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS) of a medical condition.
Whether the age-old question of the “egg before the chicken or the chicken before the egg” is answered, and in what way, is often the wrong approach to take. More often than not, when a medical condition begins to progressively deteriorate a Federal or Postal employee’s health, and the impact upon one’s ability/inability to perform the essential elements of one’s job begins to manifest itself to supervisors, coworkers, managers, etc.; at about the same critical juncture, harassment — or the perception of harassment — begins to occur. Such workplace issues then begin to exponentially quantify and exacerbate, feeding onto each other: the workplace issues begin to exacerbate the medical condition; the stress-levels rise; soon thereafter, agency efforts to protect itself begin to get triggered — counseling letters on leave usage, sick-leave restriction, placement of a Federal or Postal employee on AWOL, 14-day suspensions, placement on a PIP, all begin to erupt.
The key in preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS, however, is to have the self-discipline to identify which workplace issues are relevant to bring into the arena of an OPM disability retirement application. Discipline in such matters is a difficult measure to undertake; however, it is a critical step to recognize and initiate, bifurcate and separate, and where irrelevant, to excise and discard, when preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Theory and Practice: Tips and Strategies for a Successful Application | Tagged: accommodation issues in FERS disability retirement, adding harassment to the problems of a disabled federal employee, an emotional federal disability application, an issue that can defeat a federal disability application, attendance issues and OPM disability retirement, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, disabled federal workers with multiple issues, distinguish core from collateral issues in a federal disability application, federal disability legal issues, FERS Disability, FERS disability retirement, focusing on medical substantive issues not emotional problems, focusing on the direct issues, harassment in the Postal Service, harassment is not a medical issue, how an opm disability attorney must be able to make discretionary decisions, issues that an injured federal workers should consider while on workers comp, issues to mention in fers disability application, long lwop sick leave for stress, medical issues for a federal employee, MSPB disability lawyer, OPM disability retirement, opm sick leave, practical decision making: issues to consider before submitting a fers disability claim, questions about discretionary decision-making, the fine balance between rational and emotional factors, USPS disability retirement, when the opm disability client insists on using peripheral issues, workers comp harassment | Leave a comment »
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