The other issue which may involve a 12-month period — aside from the Statute of Limitations, which allows a Federal or Postal employee to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits within 1 year of being separated from Federal Service — is the duration of one’s medical condition.
Federal and Postal employees will often confuse the issue, and believe in error that they must suffer through a minimum period of 12 months before they can even begin the process of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits. This is an error either in the proper interpretation of the law, or through receipt of misguided information from third parties. The law simply requires that a Federal or Postal employee filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, have a medical condition which will impact him or her for a period of at least 12 months.
Practically speaking this would make sense. For, since the bureaucratic process of preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management takes a minimum of 8 – 10 months for the entire process anyway, it would make no sense to have a medical condition which will be “cured” within that time frame, for a Federal or Postal employee to file in the first place.
The minimum requirement of the 12-month period can be easily addressed in the “prognosis” portion of a doctor’s statement. Most doctors can prognosticate within a couple of months of beginning treatment, concerning the long-term duration of a medical condition; whether it is chronic, lasting, or likely permanent.
In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, knowledge equals the ability to overcome obstacles, and knowing the law will allow the Federal and Postal employee contemplating filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits to possess the necessary tools to effectively manage his or her life and future.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Clarifications of Laws or Rules | Tagged: attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, clarifications on some confusing federal disability retirement issues, disabling condition should last one year for opm law to apply, don't confuse the two 12 months rule under opm disability retirement laws, eligibility criteria for disability under fers and csrs laws, federal disability law blog, federal workers disability criteria, fers disability and time the condition is expected to last, FERS disability retirement, how long the medical condition should last?, how long the opm disability retirement process can last?, legal representation for injured federal workers, medical condition must last one year, medical condition that will last 12 months or more, minimum time a condition should last to qualify for fers disability retirement, one rule about medical conditions in opm disability retirement: condition must last one year, opm duration medical condition, opm medical retirement qualification ruled by legal criteria of eligibility, owcp disability retirement, representing federal employees from any us government agency, some confusion about the opm disability retirement, the federal employee's medical condition should be expected to last one year to qualify for medical retirement, the past and expected duration of a medical condition to qualify for fers disability retirement, USPS disability retirement benefits, what must be included in the doctor report in order to qualify for fers/csrs disability retirement | Leave a comment »