Disability Retirement for Federal Government Employees: Refiling

For various reasons, it is necessary to refile a case.  Sometimes, an individual who has received a denial from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, has allowed the 30-day time period to lapse, and therefore has lost the right to file for Reconsideration, or to file an appeal to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.

As long as the Federal or Postal employee who has allowed for such lapse has not been separated from Federal Service, or from the U.S. Postal Service, for more than one (1) year, such refiling is perfectly acceptable.  However, if a Federal or Postal employee who has been separated from Federal Service, has:  (A)  been separated from Federal Service for more than one (1) year, and (B) has allowed for a denial from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to lapse for more than thirty (30) days, then such a Federal or Postal employee has forever lost his or her right to refile, precisely because the Statute of Limitations would preclude the Federal or Postal employee from refiling.

In determining whether or not to refile because the Federal or Postal employee still continues to retain the right to file again, the identical questions which one should ask in the original filing of a Federal Disability Retirement application would prevail:  Do I have a supportive medical doctor?  Does my medical condition prevent me from performing one or more of the essential elements of my job?  Will my doctor help me prove that I can no longer perform one or more of the essential elements of my job?

In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, the questions for an original filing, or in refiling, remain the same; the only change is the time that lapses, making each of us a day older, but hopefully, that much wiser.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal Employee Medical Retirement: Proper Responses

A receipt of a denial from the Office of Personnel Management to a Federal Disability Retirement application under either FERS or CSRS is always an event which is upsetting to a Federal or Postal employee, but it is “part of the process” which occurs often enough.  

If it is a second denial (where a Request for Reconsideration has already been accomplished, and the Office of Personnel Management has denied it again), then the only appropriate response is to file an appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board (no response is required, or even appropriate, to OPM, as it is out of their jurisdictional purview upon denying it a second time).  

If it is a “first denial“, then a “Request for Reconsideration” must be filed within thirty (30) days of the date of the denial letter (one can argue that the 30 days should be counted from the date of receipt, but it is always better to be on the safe side), and if requested, an additional thirty (30) days is automatically granted in order to have sufficient time to gather and submit further documentation to rebut and answer the denial from the Office of Personnel Management.

Submission of the Request for Reconsideration, and participation in the process of having the Office of Personnel Management reconsider the initial denial, is mandatory, not elective.  By this is meant the following:  You cannot bypass or skip the Reconsideration Stage and jump directly to the MSPB; you must first get a decision on the Request for Reconsideration before the Merit Systems Protection Board will consider your case.  

You cannot get angry or reactive and declare, “I will just file an appeal to the MSPB and have an Administrative Judge look at my case”.  You must patiently go through the proper channels of justice, and respond accordingly.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Medical Retirement for Federal Workers: Reconsiderations

When a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS is denied at the first stage of the process, a Federal or Postal worker who filed for the benefit has the administrative right to request that it be “reconsidered” by the Office of Personnel Management.  Once requested, the case file is turned over to the “Disability Reconsideration Branch” of the office, and will be reviewed and evaluated by a Disability Specialist — not the same person who reviewed it at the Initial Stage of the process. 

A person who has filed for Federal Disability Retirement benefits has thirty (30) days to Request Reconsideration.  While the 30-day period may arguably have some flexibility based upon when the applicant actually received the denial letter, it is nevertheless a good policy to adhere to the 30-day time-frame by counting the date of the denial letter as the “beginning” date.  Obviously, it is better NOT to be placed in a position of having to argue whether or not the applicant met the 30-day deadline.  Further, it is best to send it in via a means where confirmation of receipt can be shown.  OPM is a large bureaucracy, and things get lost in the morass of the volume of submissions.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement: Reconsideration Stage

Sometimes, restraint is the better part of a response, as opposed to immediately responding. If an applicant’s disability retirement is denied at the initial stage of the process, an individual has thirty (30) days within which to file a Request for Reconsideration.

Upon filing such a request, however, the requestor then only has thirty (30) days to submit additional medical documentation to support the reconsideration request. Thus, take the following scenario: A person receives a denial on day 1; he files a Request for Reconsideration on day 2; he has until day 32 to file supporting medical documentation. If, on the other hand, the requestor had waited until day 25 to request reconsideration (while, in the meantime, on Day 2, he had written to the doctor for additional input/response/records, etc.), then the individual essentially has 45 days to make his case, as opposed to 32 days.

When dealing with doctors, it is often a pragmatic methodology to do it this way, because doctors rarely respond within 30 days. Thus, it is wiser to refrain from responding immediately; it is sometimes difficult to show restraint, because one’s natural impulse is to quickly file a request for reconsideration. For pragmatic reasons, it is almost always better to wait.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire