Medical Retirement Benefits for US Government Employees: When and Whether

When one should file a Federal Disability Retirement application, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS or CSRS, through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, is a matter of individual circumstances and needs — except in the particular situation where objective timeframes impose mandatory filing.

Whether one should file or not is a similar question based upon the medical conditions one suffers from, as well as the extent of a doctor’s support for such an administrative filing — but again, the “whether” also may be mandated by necessity if a Federal or Postal Worker is approaching the 1-year mark of having been separated from Federal Service.

The general rule concerning an impending and upcoming Statute of Limitations is the following:  If the Federal or Postal Worker fails to file within 1 year of being separated from Federal Service, the ability to file will forever be blocked (with some narrow and exceptional circumstances excepting the passing of the 1-year deadline).  As such, it is better to file than not (obviously).

Further, on most issues, one can supplement a Federal or Postal Disability Retirement application later on (this is where the Federal employee applicant must be very careful in completing the SF 3112A, Applicant’s Statement of Disability); whereas no such additional pursuance of the Federal Disability Retirement matter can be advanced if one does not file on a timely basis to begin with.

When and whether to file are therefore matters of discretion — unless the Statute of Limitations is about to impose itself upon the when and the where

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Employee Medical Retirement: The Imperfect Sequence of Filing

If the Statute of Limitations is quickly approaching for a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS, it is important to put aside the procrastination and delay (is that a self-contradiction — to “put aside” procrastination?) and just file the basic forms.  An imperfect filing of a Federal Disability Retirement application is better than no filing at all.  

As has been often stated and restated in previous blogs and articles, one cannot make a substantive argument for a Federal Disability Retirement case (let alone even a non-substantive argument) if one does not first meet the minimum criteria of eligibility by filing a Federal Disability Retirement application in a timely manner.  

The Office of Personnel Management will inform the Federal or Postal worker who files an imperfect Federal Disability Retirement application, of the “missing” items and forms which were not filed, and allow for thirty (30) days to correct the imperfect filing.  This is certainly preferable, however, to not filing at all, and missing the deadline and trying to argue with the Office of Personnel Management the reasons why you did not file on time (actually, there will be no “argument” per se — only silence and being ignored as irrelevant and non-existent).  

Thus, whatever the reasons might be — haven’t received all of the medical reports; the former agency has not returned the Supervisor’s Statement or SF 3112D; haven’t filed for SSDI yet and received a receipt; haven’t …   It doesn’t matter.  What matters is to file the three (3) basic forms on time (SF 3107 or 2801, Application for Immediate Retirement; Schedules A, B & C; and SF 3112A, Applicant’s Statement of Disability).  

Once filed, you have the basis to argue for an approval.  Without having filed, the void, vacuity and silent nothingness of nonexistence will overwhelm the ticking clock which reminds one that the tolling of the Statute of Limitations has come and passed.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire