The problem with “Standard Forms” is that they often appear to solicit “standard responses”, and in a Federal Disability Retirement case under the Federal Employees Retirement Systems (FERS) or the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, it is often because a Federal or Postal employee/applicant who confronts and begins to fill out SF 3112A, Applicant’s Statement of Disability, the very “blocked” appearance of the form, and the constricting questions themselves, makes it appear as if a “standard response” is required. Don’t be fooled.
By way of example, take a “special animal” — that of a Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Controller who must take a disqualifying medication, loses his or her medical certification from the Flight Surgeon, and thinks that filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits is a “slam dunk”. Nothing could be further from the truth. Or, a Customs & Border Patrol Agent who goes out on stress leave, or suffers from chronic back pain. Are there “standard responses” in filling out an Applicant’s Statement of Disability? There are certain standard “elements” which should be considered in responding to the questions, but don’t be constricted by an appearance of “standard responses” to a “standard form”.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
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OPM Disability Retirement: Service Deficiency & Medical Condition
The Office of Personnel Management will often use as a criteria of denial the argument/basis that despite the fact that an individual may have a medical condition such that the medical documentation states that the Federal or Postal worker can no longer perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, nevertheless, there has not been a showing that a “service deficiency” has occurred. Often, agencies systematically write up performance appraisals without much thought or consideration; more often, Federal and Postal workers quietly suffer through his or her medical condition, and strive each day to meet the requirements of their duties.
Whatever the reason for the lack of attention or perception on the part of the supervisor or the agency to recognize that the Federal or Postal worker has not been able to perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, such basis for a denial of a disability retirement application by the Office of Personnel Management is not a legitimate one, because existence of a “service deficiency” is not the whole story: if it is found that retention in the job is “inconsistent” with the type of medical condition the Federal or Postal Worker has, then such a finding would “trump” the lack of any service deficiency. That is not something, however, that the Office of Personnel Management is likely to tell you as they deny your disability retirement application.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability Actors - The Agency, OPM Disability Actors - The Supervisor, U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) | Tagged: adverse agency reaction, agency's extraordinary top assessment in fers disability applications, agency's influence in disability retirement, assessment for postal disability retirement from supervisor, criteria of denial instead of criteria of disability in opm disability, disability retirement csrs, disability retirement usps non job related, disability retirement workers compensation, essential elements of jobs not so essential according to evaluation, federal disability facts, federal disability law firm, federal medical retirement, fers disability application supervisor comments, FERS disability attorney, fers disability attorney in mississippi, fers disability benefits, government postal disability, injured postal workers and their miraculous job evaluations, law firm for federal disability retirement, medical disability lawyers opm, opm disability and the supervisor who says everything's fine, opm disability for federal employees in louisiana, opm disability for federal workers in alabama, opm disability retirement representation in utah, opm supervisor statement disability retirement, opm's excuses to deny your federal disability retirement, owcp disability retirement really is usually meant "opm disability retirement", owcp medical retirement, postal service disability retirement, postal service medical retirement, representing federal employees from any us government agency, representing federal employees in and outside the country, representing us government disability employees anywhere, the incapacitated federal employee without service deficiency, USPS disability retirement benefits, washington state federal opm disability retirement, when supervisors don't notice any medical condition in federal worker, when the agency claims no service deficiency in opm application, when there is no accommodation because there is no job deficiency, when top performance hurts the chances of getting fers disability, when work performance evaluations are near too perfect, Workers Comp disability, workers comp fers retirement, your supervisor and federal disability retirement | Leave a comment »