OPM Disability Retirement: “The Grab-bag”, “Volume” and the “Last Minute” Case

Procrastination leads to filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS at the last minute, which leads one to simply attach a volume of medical documentation and list a grab-bag of medical conditions. 

Sometimes, such an approach is thought to be the only way of preparing, formulating, and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application, especially when there is little or no time left in which to meet the statutory deadline for filing (a Federal or Postal employee must file within 1 year of being separated from Federal Service).  It may well be the only way to file, given that a Federal or Postal employee has only days left to submit the Federal Disability Retirement application. 

The fact is, one can only argue the merits of a case if, and only if, one has met the Statute of Limitations; if one fails to file in a timely manner, then there is simply no opportunity at all to argue the substantive basis for the Federal Disability Retirement application.  Yet, even in “Last Minute” cases, it is important to pause and attempt to streamline a case.  Why?  Because once a case has been filed, and the Statute of Limitations has passed, a Federal or Postal employee is unable to change or otherwise amend the stated and identified medical conditions, as listed on Standard Form 3112A. 

As such, even at the last minute, the grab-bag volume case should be — and can be — prepared and formulated with some thought.  In the end, it will serve the Federal or Postal employee who is filing for OPM Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS, well.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Medical Retirement Benefits for US Government Employees: Stating the Obvious

Sometimes, stating the obvious is necessary.  In filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS & CSRS, and in dealing with the Office of Personnel Management, “stating the obvious” becomes not only a necessity, but a truism encapsulated in profundity surrounded by a simple rule:  the greater the obviousness, the more effective the Federal Disability Retirement application.

For the applicant under FERS or CSRS who files for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, who is unrepresented, it is best not to act as a lawyer.  While case-law and statutes abound as free information on the internet (and such information and discussion is certainly available on my website at FederalDisabilityLawyer.com and in various articles I have written on the subject), misinterpretation, misunderstanding, or mis-citation of cases, statutes, rules or regulations can easily be engaged in.  

While generally harmless, and further, since many at the Office of Personnel Management are not even aware of the laws and case-laws governing the very subject which they are supposed to rule upon, what is the point (one might ask)?  The obvious point is for the future — to always predicate a case upon the simple truism that one stage in the process may not be enough, and so building a foundation for the next stage, and the stage after that, by preserving the legal and factual arguments for an eventual appeal, is always a necessary evil one must perform.  State the obvious — and state it multiple times.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire