As has been stated many time previously, in preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS from the Office of Personnel Management, it is important to view the engagement with the entirety of the application procedure as a “process“, as opposed to a singular event.
The multiple stages of this administrative process — from the Initial Stage of the preparation and filing; to the Reconsideration Stage (in the event of an initial denial); to the appeal to an Administrative Judge with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board; to an appeal with a Petition for Full Review (PFR) with the MSPB; and finally to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals — it is a “process” because each of the forums or legal venues cannot be viewed in a vacuum.
While it is true that a Hearing before an Administrative Judge at the Merit Systems Protection Board will receive the information, testimony, and conduct the Hearing as “de novo” — meaning, “anew” or “freshly all over again” — nevertheless, it is quite apparent that the reason why such a stage as having a Hearing before an Administrative Judge at the Merit Systems Protection Board is precisely because of the evidence filed in the prior portion of the process, and the one before that.
Thus, retrospectively, one must understand that the Federal or Postal Worker who finds himself or herself in any part of the administrative process, is there precisely because of its interdependence upon a prior, other part of the process. Therefore, prospectively — looking forward at the start of the process — it is important to recognize this point, and to prepare and formulate one’s Federal Disability Retirement application with this in mind: that each Stage of the administrative process identified as a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS cannot be viewed in a vacuum, but instead, must always be analyzed with a view from “on high” — meaning, preparing for the potentiality that it will be reviewed and heard before a judge.
This often changes the perspective, and should give pause to the lay person who believes that his or her case is a mere “slam dunk” which will entail a singular event. Systematic preparation for the entirety of the process is a perspective worth noting, and such notation may be the needed grammatical mark for a successful and persuasive presentation to the Office of Personnel Management.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: a well-prepared opm disability case, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, careful planning from beginning can save you future substantial time, considering future issues from the beginning, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, de novo process in OPM disability law, Federal Disability, federal disability retirement, fers disability claims process, FERS disability retirement, looking at the long term when getting disability retirement, looking at the opm disability process as a whole, nationwide representation of federal employees, opm application and approval process, opm disability filing is only the beginning of the process, OPM disability retirement, opm disability retirement is a long-term process, owcp disability retirement, planning your opm disability strategy from the beginning, Postal disability, postal service disability retirement, preparing an OPM disability application for the long term, starting a well-prepared fers disability application with the forest view, the approval process for opm disability retirement, the process of getting and securing federal employees disability, thinking process, USPS disability retirement, viewing the opm disability application as part of a longer process, why it is better to prepare an excellent disability claim from the beginning | Leave a comment »
