Can you mess things up without knowing it? Absolutely. Can you mess things up while knowing it? Again, absolutely.
We have all been in that situation, haven’t we? The latter context is always troubling — for, as we are engaged in the activity, we begin to have a sense that things are taking the proverbial “wrong turn”, and there is a growing, sinking feeling our involvement and participation in the endeavor plays a significant role in messing things up.
We begin to think up of excuses as to why what we did was less than harmful; we try and minimize our own ineptitude; we try and justify how it would have turned out that badly, anyway. Or, as in the former context, our own ignorance allowed for the messing up of things and, while the period of ignorance delayed our knowledge (or lack thereof) concerning out active participation in messing things up, when we come to a point of knowledge, we suddenly realize that what we were doing (or not doing) played a major role in messing things up.
Filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS can end up this way: Messing things up by not knowing what to do, what laws to comply with, what criteria needs to be met; or, messing things up by submitting too much information, etc.
To prevent this, contact an OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement Law, and consider the consequences of messing things up.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
OPM Disability Retirement, Et Cetera… 