The case-law opinions from the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, as well as from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, upholds the statement added onto Question 4 of Standard Form 3112A, the form which specifically requests the Applicant’s statement of disability, which asserts: “We consider only the disease and/or injuries you discuss in this application”.
Failure to identify a particular medical condition can have an adverse impact upon one’s application for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.
Take the following hypothetical: a Federal or Postal employee is terminated from Federal Service; he or she files for Federal Disability Retirement benefits within one (1) year of being separated from service. While the Statute of Limitations has already been met because the filing has occurred within the 1-year timeframe, during the process of awaiting a decision from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the treating doctor has diagnosed with greater specificity the primary and underlying cause of the medical condition.
In his or her haste to file, the (now former) Federal employee quickly noted the diagnosed medical conditions in response to question 4, but nowhere is there an indication of the newly-diagnosed medical condition. During the wait, it is now more than 1 year from the time of separation. The quandary: The Federal Disability Retirement application cannot be withdrawn, because the 1-year Statute of Limitations has already passed, and so he or she is no longer able to re-file. No additional medical conditions can be added onto the SF 3112A.
Is there a problem? The answer: Under this hypothetical, potentially yes.
Even if OPM approves the case, there may be future difficulties if OPM approves the Disability Retirement application based upon a medical condition listed, but resolved. Care in identifying and properly annotating the medical conditions must be taken in preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Pre-Application Considerations | Tagged: a hypothetical case study: medical conditions under fers/csrs disability retirement law, a scary hypothetical: the statute of limitations in opm disability retirement law, attorney with extensive experience in opm disability law, complex issues and problems during the opm disability process, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, describing a medical condition to the office of personnel management, different medical conditions in federal disability retirement, FERS disability retirement, finding solutions to the problems a federal disability application may have, how to anticipate possible problems in your postal disability application, if the applicant has several medical conditions, injured postal employees with different health problems, listing different illnesses in your opm disability application, listing several medical conditions in an opm disability application, medical conditions symptoms and the opm disability applicant, opm disability appeal problems and uncertainties, OPM disability retirement, overcoming possible future problems in your fers disability application, owcp disability retirement, potential problems with your fers disability application, preempting future problems with your federal disability application, primary medical conditions, problems with fers disability, reflecting a cutting-edge legal issue that may arise in a federal disability retirement case, the experience of a federal disability retirement attorney, the issue of disability listing in the usps disability application, the medical condition in fers disability retirement, USPS disability retirement, what conditions to list in the postal disability retirement application, when preventing potential problems in a fers disability claim may become the problem itself, when there are several medical conditions | Leave a comment »
Federal Employee Medical Retirement: The Potential Drawback
One of the potential drawbacks in pursuing collateral employment issues concomitantly with a Federal Disability Retirement application is that, as such employment issues are active and clearly in the collective consciousness of the Agency, the Supervisor, and all involved, the issue itself often gets sneaked into a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS via the back door.
This is not necessarily a negative thing, but can be a potential drawback if the Supervisor insists upon inserting the details of the collateral action in the Supervisor’s Statement. Whether such insertion and accompaniment with a Federal Disability Retirement application is “proper” or not, is a separate matter. From the perspective of the applicant who is awaiting a decision from the Office of Personnel Management, it matters not as to the proper actions of the Agency. What such actions by the rogue supervisor does, is to deflect the focus away from the medical issue, and redirects the reviewing official/representative at OPM that the “reason” for one’s early retirement is not one based upon a medical issue, but rather, is because of stresses or other factors caused by a hostile work environment, harassment issues, etc. This is normally a proposition which can be easily sidestepped, by arguing to OPM that whether or not such workplace issues have any basis or not, the treating doctor has nevertheless stated X, Y & Z. However, it can still be problematic, and that is why collateral workplace issues should be avoided, if at all possible.
Sincerely, Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability Actors, Theory and Practice: Tips and Strategies for a Successful Application | Tagged: avoiding using the "hostile environment" term in your opm disability claim, cases where the opm claims situational disability, collateral issues while on the federal disability retirement application process, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, dealing with an harassment issue and the usps disability application, disability eeoc cases against federal agencies, discrimination against disabled federal workers and eeoc, eeo complaints and workers comp, federal disability attorney, fers disability application supervisor comments, FERS disability retirement, harassment in the Postal Service, harassment is not a medical issue, hostile work environment federal government, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, many federal disability retirement cases are situational at the beginning, mixing discrimination complaints and medical issues in the usps disability retirement application, mixing your federal disability retirement claim with other lawsuits, nationwide representation of federal employees, neutralizing negative statements from supervisor's statements in sf 3112b, OPM disability retirement, owcp disability retirement, postal service disability retirement, potential problems with your fers disability application, psychiatric disorder caused by a hostile work environment, pursuing collateral issues besides csrs disability retirement, remembering that opm disability retirement is primarily a medical issue, representing federal employees in and outside the country, situational disability and the hostile environment claim, Standard Form 3112b, supervisors' revenge against Postal workers, the dangers of getting your opm claim situational, the injured federal worker and the unfair supervisor, the limited power of a supervisor in the fers disability retirement process, the unfair postal supervisor, the venom of the supervisor, unequal treatment issues in the federal workplace, USPS disability retirement, why the sf 3112b matters less than the doctor's statements, your supervisor and federal disability retirement | Leave a comment »