Whether inadvertently or not, an Applicant who has formulated, prepared and filed a Federal Disability Retirement application either under FERS or CSRS will make it easy for the Office of Personnel Management to deny a case.
Thus, for instance, on the Applicant’s Statement of Disability, where the applicant is asked concerning the status one is in at the agency, if the applicant agrees with the Agency or the Supervisor that the Agency has “accommodated” the individual in his or her employment, then the Office of Personnel Management will often focus selectively upon that answer and argue that, inasmuch as X has stated that the employee has been accommodated, and Y (the employee — you) has agreed with the agency, therefore Y is not eligible or entitled to Federal Disability Retirement benefits because Y has been accommodated.
But, as it has been previously stated on multiple occasions, the term “accommodation” is a technical term of art, and if one fails to appreciate the nuances of the term, the applicant who is filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS can fall into the trap of using the term in a non-technical, general way, and thereby defeat one’s own application for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Accommodation and Light Duty | Tagged: accommodation of federal employees, an issue that can defeat a federal disability application, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, avoiding mistakes during opm disability filing, avoiding pitfalls in your opm disability statements 3112a, civil service disability, disability retirement at the USPS, disability retirement attorney helping disabled federal workers in tx texas, federal disability retirement law mistakes, fers disability mistakes, FERS disability retirement, filing for OPM disability retirement, helping the opm to deny your application!, how to defeat your federal disability retirement application, how to self-defeat in an opm disability claim, in what possible ways can the opm make mistakes in computation of benefits?, legal accommodation under fers disability rules, light duty accommodation retirement, light duty and reasonable accommodation, making it easy for the opm to deny your fers disability application, mistaken beliefs concerning usps disability retirement, mistakes that can cost you an opm disability denial, mistakes to avoid during the filing of a fers disability claim, nationwide representation of federal employees, OPM disability retirement, owcp accommodations, owcp disability retirement, postal service disability retirement, postal supervisors' definition of accommodation, real accommodation and rehabilitation efforts in the federal sector, reasonable accommodation of federal workers, resources for injured federal workers, rules for filing medical disability with the USPS, selective realism in the minds of the opm disability specialists, the disabled federal worker and accommodation issues at the workplace, the excessive opm's record in making disability approval mistakes, us federal employees filing for disability, usps accommodation, USPS disability retirement, what's really legal accommodation under the fers and csrs statues, withstanding the selective reasoning of the opm for denying a claim, your medical retirement claim and the opm's selective picks | 1 Comment »
Disability Retirement for Federal Workers: The Exaggerated Supervisor’s Statement
In preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS, the Federal and Postal employee should focus upon those aspects of the OPM Medical Retirement which are under his or her “control” — directly or indirectly — and not worry excessively about those things which are beyond one’s control or responsibility.
Thus, obtaining the proper medical documentation; accurately, succinctly and coherently formulating the Applicant’s Statement of Disability on SF 3112A, etc., are within the purview of one’s control and responsibility. Having the Supervisor complete the Supervisor’s Statement — SF 3112B — is part of the required final Federal Disability Retirement packet; what is contained within the parameters and confines of the form itself, however, is often beyond one’s control.
While one assumes that a Supervisor’s Statement will be completed with a fair amount of accuracy, it will necessarily contain a certain perspective, intent, and often a sense of “protecting” the agency’s interest and goals. Thus, the Supervisor will often overstate the extent of an attempted accommodation engaged in, real or imagined, in order to justify its actions concerning the Federal or Postal employee. Further, it will often mis-state the concept of “light duty” and how it relates to accommodating the Federal or Postal employee. In other sections of SF 3112B, it may over-state and exaggerate the employee’s conduct or impact of the medical conditions upon the Agency’s workload.
An exaggerated Supervisor’s Statement will often be helpful to a Federal Disability Retirement case. Don’t be too hasty in attempting to correct inaccuracies and differing perspectives; sometimes, the exaggerated statements are merely differences of opinions and viewpoints, and may in fact be helpful in obtaining an approval from the Office of Personnel Management.
In any event, a Supervisor’s Statement is beyond one’s control — and undue focus upon those issues beyond one’s control can detract from the greater mission at hand.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability Application - SF 3112B Supervisor’s Statement for CSRS and FERS | Tagged: 3112b supervisor's narrative and its inaccuracies, an exaggerated supervisor's statements of disability, assessment for postal disability retirement from supervisor, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, don't worry too much about the opm disability claim supervisor's statements, federal supervisor response to employee work injury, fers disability application supervisor comments, FERS disability retirement, injured employees working under abusive supervisors, legal services for federal and postal workers all across america, OPM disability retirement, postal service disability retirement, postal supervisors and managers, postal supervisors' definition of accommodation, SF 3112B Supervisor’s Statement, supervisors and disabled employees in the US federal agencies, taking control of your federal disability application, the applicant's control of the opm disability application and process, the postal supervisor and the sf 3112b, trying to change things you have some control over, USPS disability retirement, worrying about things out of your control | 1 Comment »