• Home
  • About Me
  • Contact Us
  • Copyright
  • Credentials

OPM Disability Retirement

Entries RSS | Comments RSS
  • Pages

    • About Me
    • Contact Us
    • Copyright
    • Credentials
  • Archives

  • Categories

    • Accommodation and Light Duty (40)
    • Advantages of Federal Disability Retirement (27)
    • Agency’s and/or Supervisor’s Actions (44)
    • Application, Appeals, and Other Medical Documentation Submitted To the OPM (44)
    • Burden of Proof (30)
    • Clarifications of Laws or Rules (161)
    • CSRS Disability (1)
    • Eligibility Criteria (18)
    • Evaluation Of Your OPM Disability Claim – How Do I Know If I Have A Strong Case? (18)
    • Fables, Stories and Analogies about CSRS and FERS Medical Retirement Benefits (78)
    • Federal Disability Judge-Made Decisions Quoted (35)
    • FERS Disability (10)
    • Important Cases, Legal Updates and/or the Current Process Waiting Time (49)
    • Life after Federal Disability Retirement (21)
    • LWOP and Sick Leave in OPM Disability (12)
    • Mental/Nervous Condition (49)
    • Miscellaneous (177)
    • OPM Disability & OWCP Workers Comp Filings (45)
    • OPM Disability & SSA Social Security Disability Benefits (40)
    • OPM Disability & VA Benefits (4)
    • OPM Disability Actors (288)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The Agency (54)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The Applicant (79)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The Attorney (55)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The Doctor (53)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The Human Resources Office (17)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The MSPB Administrative Judge (6)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The OPM Representatives (31)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The Others (9)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The Supervisor (13)
    • OPM Disability Administrative Law (Statutory and Non-Statutory Law) (13)
    • OPM Disability and a Hostile Working Environment (11)
    • OPM Disability Application (187)
      • OPM Disability Application – SF 3112 Disability Retirement Application Package (29)
      • OPM Disability Application – SF 3112A Applicant's Statement of Disability for CSRS and FERS (62)
      • OPM Disability Application – SF 3112B Supervisor’s Statement for CSRS and FERS (9)
      • OPM Disability Application – SF 3112C Physician's Statement for CSRS and FERS (15)
      • OPM Disability Application – SF 3112D Agency Certification of Reassignment and Accommodation Efforts for CSRS and FERS (7)
    • OPM Disability Process (160)
      • OPM Disability Process – 1st Stage: OPM Disability Application (36)
      • OPM Disability Process – 2nd Stage: OPM Reconsideration Stage (28)
      • OPM Disability Process – 3rd Stage: MSPB Stage (17)
      • OPM Disability Process – 4th Stage: Petition for Full Review at the MSPB (4)
      • OPM Disability Process – 5th Stage: Federal Circuit Court of Appeals (2)
    • OPM Disability Retirement & EEOC Complaints (4)
    • OPM Medical Questionnaire (8)
    • Post-Application Issues (19)
    • Pre-Application Considerations (454)
    • Professional & Expert Witnesses (5)
    • Reasonable Medical Treatment and Compliance Issues (6)
    • Reflections of an OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer (2,053)
    • Resigning or Being Separated From a Federal Agency for Medical Problems or Other Reasons (34)
    • SF 3112 Forms (11)
    • Specific Medical Conditions (29)
    • The Job of a Federal Disability Attorney (80)
    • Theory and Practice: Tips and Strategies for a Successful Application (204)
    • U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) (21)
    • U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) (79)
    • U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Disability Retirement (36)
    • Uncategorized (363)
    • When the OPM Application Is Approved (14)
    • When the OPM Application Is Denied (94)

Federal and Postal Disability Retirement: Other Processes

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Federal Disability Retirement Attorney

Does it make a difference to list that one’s Federal Disability Retirement case is also accepted by OWCP/Department of Labor as an “accepted case”?  Or that one has been deemed 90% disabled by the Veterans Administration — or, more to the point, that one has received a 100% unemployability rating?  How about having been approved for SSDI?  Aren’t these all “indicators” of a medical disability?  

The short, uncomplicated answer is that, yes, such acceptance and approval by other agencies and sources can be indicators of a medical disability.  The longer, more complicated issue, however, is how to divulge and inform the Office of Personnel Management about the “other” Agency, the acceptance, and the relevance of what an approval or an acceptance by another agency should mean to one’s Federal Disability Retirement application.  

Unfortunately, there is no generic or universal rule concerning OWCP-accepted claims, SSDI approvals, VA determinations, etc., with respect to their relevance to an OPM Disability Retirement application.  Each case is unique; there is case-law which is applicable to each one, independent of the other; and because the criteria which governs each is different from any other, they must be dealt with in an independent manner.  This is not a reflection upon the individual filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS; this is more a reflection upon the asserted independence of each Agency from each other.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Filed under: Application, Appeals, and Other Medical Documentation Submitted To the OPM | Tagged: attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, civil service disability, compiling additional supporting documentation, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, disability retirement for federal employees, document support for opm disability claimant, documentation for federal medical retirement, federal disability lawyer, federal employee medical disability, FERS Disability, fers disability and communication issues among federal agencies, filing for OPM disability retirement, gathering your disability claim documents, getting relevant medical documentation key in securing opm disability, guidelines for a successful opm disability application, how relevant a va disability rating is to your opm disability case?, how to prove a federal employee disability claim, how to prove disability in fers?, how to prove your disability with the federal government employee?, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, legal services for federal and postal workers all across america, medical disability through federal job, Medical Documentation for OPM Disability Retirement, medical evidence from the workers comp process, nationwide representation of federal employees, OPM disability application tips and strategies, opm supportive medical documentation, owcp disability retirement, OWCP-accepted medical conditions, preponderance of the evidence documents, resources for injured federal workers, service-connected disability compensation and a new federal job, social security disability approvals and their impact fers disability claims, studying your opm claim and using appropriate legal arguments, the opm must evaluate medical documentation, the relevance of decision from the ssa on opm disability, the relevant medical information in opm disability, using approvals from other disability systems to support your opm claim, using medical documentation from the owcp, USPS disability retirement benefits, va disability ratings and the us postal service, va ratings determinations on the civilian federal worker, what documents should I turn over opm for my disability claim?, what is the impact of a ssdi disability claim on a fers application for disability retirement?, what other tools I can use to prove federal disability retirement eligibility?, what type of documentation I can include in my postal disability retirement application? | Leave a comment »

Federal Disability Retirement: SSA Approval, Part I

Posted on July 21, 2008 by Federal Disability Retirement Attorney

Of interest is what to do when a Social Security filing for disability benefits has been approved prior to the FERS/CSRS disability retirement application being approved.  This is a rarity, and indeed, it should logically be that way:  for Social Security disability requires a higher standard of (essentially) “total disability”; while the criteria for approval under FERS/CSRS is that of an “inability to perform the essential elements” of a particular job — meaning, in essence, that an individual is no longer a good fit for a particular type of job, but could certainly be productive in some other capacity of employment.

The cases at the Merit System Protection Board which have addressed this issue have been fairly consistent.  An approval in and of itself will not necessarily help a FERS/CSRS application; as with the application process itself, the applicant has the preponderance of the evidence of proving the relevance of the approved Social Security filing.  I am often asked whether, in a denial of an SSA disability application, where the decision by the Social Security Administration states that, while SSA acknowledges that the applicant is unable to perform his or her current employment because of the medical condition, yet the applicant for SSA disability benefits is denied because he or she may engage in other productive employment — whether such a statement in the denial (that SSA acknowledges the applicant’s inability to perform his or her current job) should be forwarded to OPM.  My answer is that it should not be, because it is not relevant to OPM’s criteria for making a determination.

As to the two most important questions:  1.  If a Social Security Disability application is approved, what needs to be sent to OPM, and 2. If Social Security’s determination doesn’t provide the necessary language to be relevant for forwarding to OPM, what can take its place?  As to these two questions, I will be addressing each in a blog to be written in the very near future.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Filed under: Application, Appeals, and Other Medical Documentation Submitted To the OPM, OPM Disability & SSA Social Security Disability Benefits | Tagged: applying for federal disability, being careful with the medical documentation you submit to opm, CSRS disability lawyer, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, different laws and standards of disability, disability retirement at the USPS, disability retirement for federal employees, disability retirement with the federal government, documents you should not always submit to the opm, federal disability attorney's advice, federal employee turning over medical evidence to the opm, federal employees benefits in the district of columbia, Federal Medical Evidence of Record Program (FEDMER), federal worker disability retirement, federal workers disability, FERS disability lawyer, FERS medical retirement, injured federal employees, injured postal workers, is there any adverse effects from a ssa denial?, legal representation for injured federal workers, medical compensation for federal and postal workers, medical condition(s), medical records submitted can not be retracted, medical retirement for employees in small us agencies, nationwide representation of federal employees, Nexus between Medical Condition and Essential Elements, opm denied your claim but social security, OPM disability attorney, OPM disability retirement, opm disability retirement blog, opm medical documents, opm supportive medical documentation, owcp disability retirement really is usually meant "opm disability retirement", Postal Service disability, pragmatic methodology, Social Security and OPM disability relationship, the relevance of decision from the ssa on opm disability, usps disability benefits, USPS disability retirement, usps medical disability, when the opm disability application is approved, when to use a SSA disability decision | 1 Comment »

  • More on CSRS & FERS Disability Retirement

    • eZineArticles.com Article: The 1 Year Statute of Limitations
    • Federal Disability Retirement Laws, Medical Conditions, and the Intersecting Complications with OWCP, Social Security and FERS & CSRS
    • Federal Disability Retirement: The Full Arsenal of Weapons
    • FedSmith.com Article: Revisiting "Accommodation"
    • FedSmith.com Article: Sometimes the Process is just as important as the Substance of an Argument
    • Latest PostalReporter.com Article: Causation in a Federal Disability Retirement Case
    • Understanding the Complexities of the Law
    • USPS Disability Blog: The National Reassessment Program, the Agency and the Worker
  • Other Resources for Federal and Postal Employees

    • Articles Published in the Postal Reporter
    • FAQs on OPM Disability Retirement
    • FERS Disability Attorney Profile at Lawyers.com
    • Main Website on Federal Disability Retirement
    • OPM Disability Blog
    • The Postal Service Disability Retirement Blog
  • Seven False Myths about OPM Disability Retirement

    1) I have to be totally disabled to get Postal or Federal disability retirement.
    False: You are eligible for disability retirement so long as you are unable to perform one or more of the essential elements of your job.  Thus, it is a much lower standard of disability. 

    2) My injury or illness has to be job-related.
    False: You can get disability even if your condition is not work related.  If your medical condition impacts your ability to perform any of the core elements of your job, you are eligible, regardless of how or where your condition occurred.

    3) I have to quit my federal job first to get disability.
    False: In most cases, you can apply while continuing to work at your present job, to the extent you are able.  

    4) I can't get disability if I suffer from a mental or nervous condition.
    False: If your condition affects your job performance, you can still qualify. Psychiatric conditions are treated no differently from physical conditions.

    5) Disability retirement is approved by DOL Workers Comp.
    False: It's the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) the federal agency that administers and approves disability for employees at the US Postal Service or other federal agencies.

    6) I can wait for OPM disability retirement for many years after separation.
    False: You only have one year from the date of separation from service - otherwise, you lose your right forever.

    7) If I get disability retirement, I won't be able to apply for Scheduled Award (SA).
    False: You can get a Scheduled Award under the rules of OWCP even after you get approved for OPM disability retirement.
  • Calendar

    May 2022
    S M T W T F S
    1234567
    891011121314
    15161718192021
    22232425262728
    293031  
    « Apr    
  • Top Posts

    • FERS Disability Retirement from the OPM: The option of nothing
    • OPM Medical Disability Retirement Benefits: Per Se
    • FERS Medical Disability Retirement Law: The Finite Life
    • FERS Disability Retirement Law: The Great Lesson
    • Attorney for Federal Disability Retirement Claims: The concise sentence
    • Recurring Issues of Disability Accommodation, Light & Limited Duty, and the Form Filling of the OPM SF 3112D PDF File
    • Medical Retirement under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS): Money
    • SF 3112B
    • FERS Medical Retirement: Not for Public Viewing
    • FERS/SSDI Offsets: Major Precedent-setting Case
  • Archives

Blog at WordPress.com. WP Designer.

  • Follow Following
    • OPM Disability Retirement
    • Join 177 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • OPM Disability Retirement
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar