A recent Merit Systems Protection Board Decision has retracted and clarified a misinterpretation of the legal standard needed to meet in order to qualify for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether under FERS or CSRS. An expanded article explaining the clarification, impact and relative significance to Federal and Postal employees who are filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management will be forthcoming (from the undersigned writer) in the very near future.
Essentially, an evolving misinterpretation of the legal standard was expanding with unforeseen implications, and indeed, this may be why the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, in recent years, has been invoking terms and concepts which have gone far beyond the applicable standard of evidentiary requirements. To make such a claim, of course, may be giving OPM too much credit — that they are actually following the cases-law which is handed down through the MSPB and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals; but if not, then there has been a coincidental use of onerous language which has been rather puzzling.
What the MSPB has “clarified” and retracted, is the growing misunderstanding that one of the legal standards to be met in becoming eligible for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, is to provide “unambiguous” and evidence, or evidence which is “uncontradicted”. Such a standard is an almost impossible one to meet, obviously, and to allow for such a requirement to remain would have placed a greater — almost impossible — burden of proof upon the applicant.
When the “system” of statute-to-case-law-interpretation works, it is a wonder to behold. Justice works slowly; but then, great works of art can never be mass produced and time is always the friend of the masterpiece.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Important Cases, Legal Updates and/or the Current Process Waiting Time | Tagged: another small victory for disabled federal employees seeking early medical retirement, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, civil service disability, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, Federal Disability, federal disability case laws from the mspb and federal circuit court of appeals, federal disability retirement, FERS disability retirement, fers disability retirement and the burden of proof concept, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, legal representation for injured federal workers, legal standards invented by the opm to deny benefits, meeting the burden of eligibility requirements for medical retirement under fers, misunderstanding or misinterpretation opm disability legal standards, OPM disability retirement, opm's misinterpretation of the legal standard used to approve fers disability retirement, owcp disability retirement, Postal disability, postal service disability retirement, representing federal employees from any us government agency, the evolving legal standards in fers disability retirement laws, the invoking terms and concepts that go clearly beyond evidentiary requirements, the workings of the opm to make it more difficult to qualify for opm disability retirement, USPS disability retirement | Leave a comment »