If the Statute of Limitations is quickly approaching for a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS, it is important to put aside the procrastination and delay (is that a self-contradiction — to “put aside” procrastination?) and just file the basic forms. An imperfect filing of a Federal Disability Retirement application is better than no filing at all.
As has been often stated and restated in previous blogs and articles, one cannot make a substantive argument for a Federal Disability Retirement case (let alone even a non-substantive argument) if one does not first meet the minimum criteria of eligibility by filing a Federal Disability Retirement application in a timely manner.
The Office of Personnel Management will inform the Federal or Postal worker who files an imperfect Federal Disability Retirement application, of the “missing” items and forms which were not filed, and allow for thirty (30) days to correct the imperfect filing. This is certainly preferable, however, to not filing at all, and missing the deadline and trying to argue with the Office of Personnel Management the reasons why you did not file on time (actually, there will be no “argument” per se — only silence and being ignored as irrelevant and non-existent).
Thus, whatever the reasons might be — haven’t received all of the medical reports; the former agency has not returned the Supervisor’s Statement or SF 3112D; haven’t filed for SSDI yet and received a receipt; haven’t … It doesn’t matter. What matters is to file the three (3) basic forms on time (SF 3107 or 2801, Application for Immediate Retirement; Schedules A, B & C; and SF 3112A, Applicant’s Statement of Disability).
Once filed, you have the basis to argue for an approval. Without having filed, the void, vacuity and silent nothingness of nonexistence will overwhelm the ticking clock which reminds one that the tolling of the Statute of Limitations has come and passed.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability Application | Tagged: 1-year OPM disability rule, an imperfect fers disability application is better than a too-late fers disability application, better a rush opm disability claim than losing the opportunity to file forever, civil service disability, emergency filing, Federal Disability, federal disability retirement, federal employees and urgent disability retirement, FERS disability retirement, filing for federal medical retirement in emergency, filing the essential opm disability forms in an emergency, in emergency filing you have to worry about opm deadline first, losing your right -- forever -- to file for usps disability retirement, One-Year Statutory Timeframe, OPM disability retirement, OPM disability Statute of Limitations, owcp disability retirement, panic during postal disability emergency filing, Postal disability, the imperfect sequence of filing and urgent federal disability retirement claim, The only time it makes sense to rush a postal disability application, the problem of waiting forever for an federal disability retirement decision, The Statute of Limitations, the statutes and regulations of administrative law, updating medical information to opm after emergency filing, urgent federal disability retirement filing -- worry about the rest later, USPS disability retirement |
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