Becoming distracted from the essential focus of an activity is a problem which we all face. In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the Office of Personnel Management, it is easy to become overly focused upon what the Agency is doing, will do, or potentially might engage in, which could somehow (it is thought) impact one’s Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS.
In a perfect world, the administrative process would proceed in a sequential, logical and methodological manner. However, this is not a perfect world, and at each step of the long, administrative process, there are always glitches and temporary hold-ups. The Agency often takes its time; the supervisor may make some statements which appear contrary to facts; OPM may require additional medical evidence, despite everything that needs to be filed for an approval having been submitted, etc.
The Office of Personnel Management is a paradigm of an imperfect world. It is an agency which has the power to be the sole arbiter of a Federal Disability Retirement application, for all Federal and Postal employees, and that power is indeed one which can determine the economic future of thousands of Federal and Postal employees.
Making the distinction between peripheral and ancillary issues, and separating them from the essential components of what constitutes the important aspects of preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS will help in the process. Recognizing that this is far from a perfect world will help to ease the strain of the process.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Reflections of an OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer | Tagged: accepting opm disability clients all across america, attorney representing federal employees, civil service disability, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, dealing with a long road to medical and economic recovery after a disability, dealing with an imperfect federal disability retirement agency, distractions that peripheral issues can cause to your federal disability retirement application, Federal Disability, federal disability retirement, federal employee retirement attorney, fers disability blog, FERS disability lawyer, FERS disability retirement, focusing on the direct issues, focusing on the essential elements of your disability application fers, getting distracted with peripheral issues, legal services for federal and postal workers all across america, long road to prove eligibility of federal disability retirement opm, objective and subjective medical evidence, opm disability and living in an imperfect world, OPM disability retirement, owcp disability retirement, patience during the disability process at the opm, planning for all future hold-ups in the federal disability process, Postal disability, postal service disability retirement, sufficient medical evidence disability fers, temporary glitches in the road toward fers disability retirement, USPS disability retirement, when the opm demands more evidence to substantiate disability | Leave a comment »