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
OPM Disability Retirement, Et Cetera… 