When multiple hands work on a single project from different directions, the patchwork of designs may reveal the lack of coordination; yet, the beauty of the diversity in pattern, color, dimension and creativity may make up for such lack of uniformity. Thus, lack of uniformity need not mean that the end-result lacks beauty; and, indeed, lack of conformity can in and of itself be a form of delicate attraction.
But human beings possess an innate desire for a sense of logical comprehension, and while overlapping patterns may possess a beauty of diversity, anarchical presentation of exploding colors and patterns must ultimately be brought together into some semblance of coordination.
There is, of course, a distinction to be made between art and mathematics; between artistic endeavors, which may bend the rules of uniformity, as opposed to a cohesive and comprehensible presentation in the form of a persuasive argument. In law, an overlapping patchwork of arguments may unintentionally hit the mark; but you would not want to rely upon such an imprecise approach.
In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the approach of culling together a patchwork of arguments — borrowing a report from one’s OWCP doctor; arguing that because one received a percentage rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the relevance upon an OPM disability retirement application should be of X consequence; extrapolating language from an SSDI decision — while all of these are of some consequence, each must ultimately be garnered into a coherent whole.
It may well be that one’s Federal Disability Retirement application began as a patchwork of information; in the end, however, it should be the hand of a single artist who reworks the pattern into a cohesive whole.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Reflections of an OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer | Tagged: apwu retirement disability, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, coordinating health care treatment for an injured federal worker, coordination of medical conditions and federal disability retirement, disability insurance for postal and federal employees, disability retirement and overlap between agencies' missions, disability retirement at the USPS, essential elements of jobs, federal disability law blog, federal disability lawyer, fers disability and avoiding an artificial coordination of efforts, FERS disability retirement, FERS medical retirement, I need a lawyer to help me with my disability retirement with the post office, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, lawyer representing postal workers, legal argument to support your opm medical incapacity case, legal arguments in the federal disability application, making rational arguments along with sound medical evidence, moving forward into a complex federal disability retirement process, nationwide representation of federal employees, opm application for disability benefits, OPM disability lawyer, OPM disability retirement, owcp disability retirement, Postal disability, postal service disability retirement, representing federal employees in and outside the country, resources for injured federal workers, the "nuts and bolts" of federal disability retirement, the applicant's and the agency's legal arguments over opm disability, the dangerous comfort zone and the one year opm disability statute, the importance of coordination in federal disability retirement, the most complete blog on federal disability retirement, usps disability blog, USPS disability retirement benefits | Leave a comment »
FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement for Federal and USPS Workers: The Limitation of Agency Actions
Often, in the process of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS, the client will ask the question, “Well, doesn’t that prove that I can’t do the job?” Such a question invariably points to some action by the Agency — a letter or a memorandum; a statement which the Supervisor made, etc. While it may be true that the Agency believes that a Federal or Postal employee is unable to perform, or is not performing, all of the essential elements of the job, remember that actions of the Agency can never replace the affirmative burden of proof that one is unable, medically, to perform the essential elements of one’s job.
One must keep in mind that the Office of Personnel Management is a separate Agency which is not necessarily in communication with the Agency which employs the Federal or Postal employee. The “mindset” of the Agency is not being considered by the Office of Personnel Management. Whatever the motivations of the Agency in doing what it is or will do, is to a great extent irrelevant to OPM. What the Agency is doing may well indicate “proof” as to other issues — i.e., inability to accommodate; acknowledgment that certain essential elements of one’s job is not being performed, etc. — but it does not prove that an individual is unable, as a result of a medical condition, to perform all of the essential elements of the job. Only a doctor can do that.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Agency’s and/or Supervisor’s Actions | Tagged: about the opm disability support claim from the us agency, accepting opm disability clients all across america, agency's influence in disability retirement, agency's influence on the opm disability claim is limited, agency's influence versus power to grant opm disability, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, building a strong disability claim in the federal workplace, communication among federal agencies, disability retirement at the USPS, disability retirement for federal employees, federal disability is not determined by agency that employs you, federal disability lawyer, federal employee disability, federal supervisor response to employee work injury, fers disability and communication issues among federal agencies, fers disability application supervisor comments, FERS disability lawyer, FERS medical retirement, how much can a fed employer influence the fers disability application?, how to prove a federal employee disability claim, injured federal employee: don't wait for the agency to do things right, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, legal services for federal and postal workers all across america, opm disability and the stated support from your agency, OPM disability attorney, owcp disability retirement, personal injury in a federal agency, proving you are eligible to medically retire from the federal government, representing federal employees from any us government agency, representing federal employees in and outside the country, statutory requirements in OPM disability law, the applicant's and the agency's legal arguments over opm disability, the influence of the agency in an fers disability claim is minimal, the lack of communication among the opm and your federal employer, the limited power of a supervisor in the fers disability retirement process, the most influential person in the fers disability retirement the, the perception of accommodation among federal supervisors, the real power of the agency in cases of opm disability, USPS disability retirement benefits, usps supervisors and their impact on the postal employee's disability, when the agency seeks non-adversarial removal | Leave a comment »