In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, the Supervisor — and therefore the Agency itself — will be informed of one’s application for Federal Disability Retirement, because of the requirement of the SF 3112B.
Standard Form 3112B is the “Supervisor’s Statement”; it is a form which needs to be completed by a Supervisor of the Federal or Postal employee who is applying for Federal Disability Retirement benefits. Because the form must be completed by a Supervisor of the applicant, it is therefore presumed that “others” at the agency will come to know that the Federal or Postal employee has filed for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.
Often, the question is asked as to “when” the Supervisor should be informed of the employee’s application. It can be a touchy issue. Because the Federal or Postal employee contemplating filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits often feels a certain sense of loyalty, especially if the Supervisor has been “good” to him or her, the instinctive sense is to inform the Supervisor sooner, rather than later. But remember that loyalty in the Federal government is almost always a unilateral approach; it runs one way — from the individual to the agency; rarely is it bilateral, where it runs both ways.
Further, once a Federal or Postal employee contemplates filing for Federal Disability Retirement, the loyalty of the Supervisor is normally seen as connected to, and only to, the agency; and the very fact that an employee has mentioned the term “Federal Disability Retirement” is often the turning point of any connective loyalty.
Loyalty is what one is doing now and for the future, not what one has done in the past. Such words may invoke a sad truth, but one which should be heeded.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
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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 »