If you find yourself at the Merit Systems Protection Board trying to prove to an Administrative Judge that your are entitled to Federal Disability Retirements benefits under FERS or CSRS, and you have already filed a Prehearing Statement, and your witnesses have been approved at the Prehearing Conference, and further, you have outlined all of the issues, set forth the legal basis, and proffered the expected testimony, it is then “showtime”.
It is obviously preferable for an applicant who is filing for OPM Disability Retirement benefits to be represented by a Federal Disability Attorney — if possible, from the inception of the process, through the Reconsideration Stage, to the MSPB. However, if a Federal or Postal employee finds that, for one reason or another, you simply cannot afford an Attorney, then here are three (3) tips if you find that you are before an MSPB Administrative Judge: (1) Have a doctor testify, and make sure that the testimony of the doctor is precise and to the point (2) Make sure that what you prove to the Judge correlates with what you said you would prove in your Prehearing Statement, and (3) Be prepared to make objections to any of OPM’s cross-examination questions. Finally, remember that the point of making an objection during a Hearing is not to necessarily stop the question or answer, but rather, to preserve the point for a possible appeal. It is ultimately difficult for a non-attorney Federal Disability Retirement applicant to formulate and prepare for an effective Merit Systems Protection Board Hearing, and further, it would be better if the Federal or Postal employee had an attorney (who is well-versed in Federal Disability Retirement law) throughout the entire process; but one must play the hand one is dealt with, and that old adage is true even with a Federal or Postal Disability Retirement case under FERS or CSRS.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability Process - 3rd Stage: MSPB Stage | Tagged: aggressive representation of federal workers before the mspb, an attorney who will represent you during the mspb hearing, any lawyer will fill out opm disability forms but how about going to the mspb stage?, appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board, attorney that handles disability claims before the mspb, considering an attorney with experience before the mspb, coworkers and professional witnesses for your opm disability claim, cross-examination during mspb hearing for opm disability, disability discrimination mspb lawsuits, disability eligibility in the usps, discrimination disabled workers federal employment mspb, doctor's role during the mspb hearing, experienced attorney defending disabled clients at the mspb stages, federal lawyer defending disabled federal employees at the mspb level, fers disability retirement claim at the mspb level, filing a disability complaint with the mspb, hiring a federal disability trial attorney for the mspb stage, importance of your doctor's testimony during MSPB hearing, legal for persuasion and argumentation before MSPB hearing, Merit Systems Protection Board, Merit Systems Protection Board Stage, MSPB, MSPB and OPM disability retirement, MSPB disability lawyer, MSPB Petition for Review, opm disability appeal process, persuading an MSPB judge to grant you disability retirement, Petition for Review before the Merit Systems Protection, preparing your opm disability case for the mspb stage, setting the issues at the mspb disability stage, the Administrative Judge at the MSPB, the postal worker and the mspb appeal, thinking full review board mspb during the third stage, using the family doctor or a medical specialist during the mspb hearing, usps filing merit system protection board, usps mspb disability lawsuit, what to do if your postal disability claim reaches the mspb, when you need to involve the MSPB in disability claim, winning an opm disability case at the mspb stage, witnesses that know about your disability in the merit system protection board | Leave a comment »
