The attempt to predict an opponent’s approach in an endeavor — whether in competitive sports; in debate; in an adversarial forum — is a practice which can have favorable results, or one which ends with disastrous consequences. For the prediction itself must be based upon known factors, such as the applicable standards which the opponent will rely upon, relevant elements which will be utilized, and human, unpredictable quirks which seem to always come into play.
In approaching an opponent, it is always a good idea to study the opposition; but too much reliance upon attempting to out-maneuver the opposition can have the negative impact of taking away from valuable preparation-time one may need in order to prevail.
In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, many Federal and Postal applicants attempt to analyze the questions posed on the Standard Forms (SF 3107 series for FERS employees; SF 2801 series for CSRS employees; SF 3112 series for both FERS & CSRS employees) perhaps too deeply, in attempting to “understand” the opponent — the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Yes, the questions must be analyzed; yes, there is an implicit trickiness to many of the questions (especially on SF 3112A); and, yes, a cautious approach must be taken in answering the questions. But such caution should never detract from spending the necessary time in preparing the crux and foundation of one’s Federal Disability Retirement application — that of formulating the logical nexus between one’s medical condition and the positional duties which one can no longer perform.
Ultimately, the substance of one’s Federal Disability Retirement application must be given the greatest of focus and effort: attempting to approach the opponent’s thought processes — in this case, that of the “collective” efforts of multiple individuals at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management — may be an act of futility; better to spend the needed hours solidifying one’s own case than to try and understand an incomprehensible entity.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) | Tagged: a decisive approach to postal disability retirement, an overall winning approach to the whole opm disability process, analyzing the agency that will dictate your future, answering the questions that the applicant's for disability retirement asks, applying for federal disability, civil service disability retirement, essential elements of jobs, explaining the "nexus" as one of the most important issues in the medical report, federal disability attorney, federal disability retirement forms: not just "forms" to fill out, FERS Disability, fers disability retirement forms, filing for OPM disability retirement, focusing on the direct issues, forms needed to file for postal disability, how to formulate and approach a fers disability application, investing your time figuring out how exactly the opm processes all federal disability retirement applications, knowing your priorities and strategies on a fers disability claim, legal representation for injured federal workers, maintaining the focus in the most important opm disability issues, Nexus between Medical Condition and Essential Elements, opm disability and focusing on what it really matters: medical issues, OPM disability attorney, opm disability retirement standard forms, opm owcp strategists for a good opm disability application, planning an opm disability strategy that goes beyond form filling, Postal disability retirement, pragmatic methodology, predicting possible future outcomes in a federal disability case, predicting the future behavior of a large bureaucracy, sf 3112 and focusing on the most important medical conditions, standard forms in federal disability retirement, strategists for a good opm disability application, taking a wrong approach with your medical fers retirement, the best way to approach an initial denial of opm disability benefits, the bridge that connects the two most important dots in an opm disability claim, the most complete blog on federal disability retirement, the primary focus a federal disability retirement applicant should have, what is really important is the nexus of medical condition and job performance, what your main job should be: focusing on how your disability affects your federal job performance, why answering the questions of the applicant's statement of disability is only the beginning | Leave a comment »
OPM Disability Retirement: Focusing upon the Bridge
In preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS, the multitude of aspects in preparing the application will often lend itself to detracting and distracting from the primary elements of an effective application and presentation.
Thus, worries about what the Supervisor will or will not say; whether the Agency will mis-characterize a supposed “good deed” they performed by declaring it to be an “accommodation”, with the danger that such declaration and characterization will be accepted by the Clerk at the Office of Personnel Management as true, etc. — all of these take away from the essence of creating that important bridge between one’s medical conditions and the essential elements of one’s positional duties.
Because the vast majority of denials issued by the Office of Personnel Management are based upon “insufficient medical documentation”, an undue focus upon other elements of a Federal Disability Retirement application would not be an intelligent utilization of one’s time and effort.
While OPM will certainly argue that the Agency has “accommodated” the Federal or Postal employee (and use that term improperly 9 times out of 10); and while OPM will point to elements in a Supervisor’s Statement as a further basis for a denial; each such supplemental argument by the Office of Personnel Management is nevertheless based upon the centrality of a primary argument, in most cases: Insufficient Medical Documentation.
As such, it is prudent to focus one’s efforts upon the primary basis which provides the foundation for an effective Federal Disability Retirement application: The bridge between one’s medical conditions, and the essential elements of one’s job.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Theory and Practice: Tips and Strategies for a Successful Application | Tagged: accommodation issues in FERS disability retirement, all conditions listed in the application should explain the "nexus", attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, condition that prevents to perform the essential functions, conditions that prevent performing the essential elements of your fed job, explaining the "nexus" as one of the most important issues in the medical report, Federal Disability, federal disability retirement, fers disability application supervisor comments, FERS disability retirement, insufficient medical documentation for OPM disability, neutralizing negative statements from supervisor's statements in sf 3112b, Nexus between Medical Condition and Essential Elements, nexus between medical disability and job performance, OPM disability retirement, plenty of nexus or bridges examples in the sf 3112a, Postal disability, postal service disability retirement, primary elements of an effective fers disability application, representing federal employees from any us government agency, starting with generic information about the nexus, the ''insufficient medical documentation'' argument, the bridge that connects the two most important dots in an opm disability claim, the bridge you must build in your federal employee disability application, the federal disability bridge, USPS disability retirement, what is really important is the nexus of medical condition and job performance | Leave a comment »