As in everything in life, preparation is the key to a successful endeavor. In preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS, the Federal or Postal employee under FERS or CSRS has the affirmative burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that one is eligible and entitled to Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the Office of Personnel Management.
By “affirmative” is simply meant that it is not the responsibility of the Agency, the Office of Personnel Management, or any other bureaucracy to obtain and submit the necessary evidence, documentation or forms to meet the burden. While it is true that the Agency must complete certain forms, it is still the responsibility of the Federal or Postal employee who is filing for Federal Disability Retirement to request their completion.
Further, by “burden of proof” is meant that there is a certain set of legal criteria that the Federal or Postal applicant must meet in order to become qualified for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS. Unlike Social Security, where the Agency itself will contact the doctors, set up medical reviews and consultative examinations with appointed doctors in order to establish the extent of one’s medical conditions, etc., under the legal criteria set up by the Office of Personnel Management, it is entirely up to the Federal or Postal employee to gather, obtain and submit the evidence to meet the burden of proof.
That places a significant responsibility upon the potential applicant, and in order to meet that burden, it is well to take the time to prepare each and every aspect of a Federal Disability Retirement application, and not just blindly leave a form with a doctor, or anyone else, hoping for the best. To prepare means time; expending the time at the forefront will often save time in the end.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Pre-Application Considerations | Tagged: applicant preponderance of evidence burden in federal employees, case preparation in federal disability retirement, civil service disability retirement, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, expecting unrepresented claimants to bear the burden of presenting a compelling case, federal disability forms that the agency must complete, federal disability lawyer, FERS disability retirement, fers disability retirement and the burden of proof concept, how to prepare a federal disability claim, how to prove disability in fers?, how to successfully prepare a fers disability application, meeting the burden of eligibility requirements for medical retirement under fers, nationwide representation of federal employees, owcp disability retirement, postal service disability retirement, preparing a fers disability claim, proving your case - csrs disability retirement, representing federal employees from any us government agency, steps to prove disability under fers csrs laws, the burden of proof concept in opm disability, the fed employee's responsibility on doing her homework, the key to a successful opm application - taking your time to prepare it, the responsibility of getting all the medical documentation to the opm, the responsibility of the applicant to prove its medical claim with the opm, the responsibility of the federal disability applicant, USPS disability retirement, your responsibility to obtain all of the information necessary for the opm to make a decision |
OPM Disability Retirement 
would like information on area where you can still perform your job but not the entire essential elements.