In preparing, compiling, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS, one must prove by a preponderance of the evidence (a legal standard […]
When an applicant for FERS & CSRS Federal Disability Retirement benefits begins to craft his or her Applicant’s Statement of Disability, certain foundational questions must […]
It is important to understand what a thing is made up of; otherwise, without that knowledge, you will fail to appreciate the interaction and possible reaction to other elements. […]
There is no question about it: It is a complex process. Administratively, it must be passed through multiple levels of agency review in order to get a completed packet — the Supervisor’s Statement (SF 3112B); Agency’s Efforts for Reassignment and Accommodation (SF 3112D); effectively answering the Applicant’s Statement of Disability such that it provides the proper nexus between each of the questions on SF 3112A […]
Becoming embroiled in the minutiae and complexities in the preparation, formulation and filing of a Federal Disability Retirement application is important and necessary; […]
Potential applicants who are considering filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS will sometimes ask the question, What are the essential elements of one’s job? […]
What does it mean to “fail to prove” something? Who, in the end, determines such a “failure”? A benefit which is part of being a Federal or Postal employee — OPM Disability Retirement under the FERS system — must of course include “proof” that the Federal employee or Postal worker is no longer able to perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job; […]
At the outset, all Federal and Postal employees should know that there are rarely any “easy” cases in Federal Disability Retirement Law. Are most cases, therefore, “difficult”? Yes. And the reasons why they are difficult vary and are many — for, in the end, Federal Disability Retirement is not merely a matter of the nexus between the medical condition and the Federal employee’s inability to perform all of the essential elements of his or her position; […]
It is not the same as “unable to”, or even one of “incompatibility”; rather, it merely means that here are some impediments, but if one’s performance ratings are still fully successful, then it shows that — despite being “difficult” — the Federal or Postal worker is still able to perform all of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job. […]
We make a distinction between the two, do we not? One merely “lands” a job, whereas we “pursue” a career, implying the arbitrary nature of the first and the delectable interest shown in the second. Yet, the bifurcation of the two is never so stark as night and day, but can often be clouded in the grey of differences: […]
OPM Disability Retirement, Et Cetera… 