FERS & CSRS Disability retirement is no different, in kind, than other areas of law which intersect with individuals and personalities. As an area of administrative law, and specifically, where a government entity (the U.S. Office of Personnel Management) is involved, the Federal or Postal worker must encounter an agency which is large, powerful, and often immovable (sort of like Aristotle’s Primum movens, or the Prime Mover).
The singular Federal or Postal worker may find the encounter with the Federal government to be a daunting, almost insurmountable task. It is the classic meeting of two unequal forces; and, as such, there is always a question as to who will prevail.
Fortunately, however, there are some mechanisms in place which allow for persuasive argumentation. If a Federal Disability Retirement application is denied at the First Stage of the administrative process, then there is the Second, or Reconsideration Stage of the process, which places the disability retirement application in the hands of a different OPM case worker, in a different section. If it gets rejected a second time, then it is taken entirely out of the hands of OPM, and will be placed before an Administrative Judge at the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Throughout the entire process, however, the Federal or Postal worker may feel lonely, small and irrelevant. That is why the Federal or Postal worker who is contemplating filing for Federal Disability Retirement must engage in substantive and persuasive legal argumentation. Persuasion is the key where power is unavailable. It is OPM which has the power; it is the Federal or Postal Worker who has the persuasive tools, and must use them to his or her advantage as the law allows.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Theory and Practice: Tips and Strategies for a Successful Application | Tagged: a battle worth fighting for and against a very strong and resourceful opponent, a reflection about the advantages the office of personnel management has over a federal employee, civil service disability retirement, dealing with the OPM bureaucracy, fighting for the rights of the injured federal employee, flying solo with one wing spells a potential disaster in turbulent opm skies, getting ready to fight the battle to win your disability compensation benefits, getting through the opm bureaucratic process, how to handle a superior opponent at the federal disability retirement arena, legal resources for the rehab postal workers, less anxiety and fear by taking an experienced federal attorney aboard, options and resources for incapacitated federal employees when their agencies no longer need them, the advantages that the office of personnel management has over the disability applicant, the balance of the applicant's persuasive argumentation and the opm's power and resources, the federal disability process can be characterized as the battle between David and Goliath, the federal disability retirement fight: david versus goliath, the fight to get approved for fers disability benefits, the logic of dedicating all your possible resources to fight an enormous federal bureaucracy, the most complete blog on federal disability retirement, unequal arena opponents: the office of personnel management versus the federal disability retirement applicant, Using an experienced Federal Lawyer to deal with an OPM denial, using the third and powerful weapon to win a federal disability claim: legal argumentation, what advantages the opm has against the disabled federal employee |
OPM Disability Retirement 
Leave a Reply