Whether or not one remains on Department of Labor, Office of Worker’s Compensation Programs (DOL/OWCP) benefits, of receiving Temporary Total Disability compensation, and for how long, should not be the determining factor as to whether to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS.
Ultimately, the two systems of benefits and compensation are meant to address two different issues. OWCP is meant to address the issue of a Federal or Postal worker who has been injured on the job, or from an occupational disease, and thus causation is an issue with OWCP compensation and benefits. Further, OWCP is not meant to be a retirement system — although, in more recent years, the U.S. Postal Service and some other Federal Agencies have started to use it “as if” it is a retirement system for its employees, encouraging the filing for such benefits in order to shed the agency of workers who are not “fully” productive.
What often happens, however, when a Federal or Postal worker continues to remain on OWCP is that it become a default retirement system. One can easily become comfortable in receiving the Temporary Total Disability payments, and indeed, because of the high rate of pay and the appearance of greater benefits because no taxes are taken out of the amount paid, one can continue to survive on such payments. But because it is not a retirement system, the day can suddenly dawn when OWCP finds that the Federal or Postal worker is no longer entitled to such compensation. For that reason, and sometimes for that reason alone, it is important to secure the benefit of a Federal Disability Retirement annuity.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability & OWCP Workers Comp Filings, Pre-Application Considerations | Tagged: applying for owcp disability, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, causality issues in federal workers comp and disability retirement, city carrier workers comp, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, fed workers comp, federal employee disability, federal owcp civil service disability, federal workers comp, federal workers comp is not the default retirement system for employees with disabilities, FERS disability retirement, if owcp denied you benefits you can still be eligible for opm benefits, legal services for federal and postal workers all across america, mail handler workers comp, occupational disease or illness in federal installations, occupational diseases federal employees, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP), OPM First Stage Disability Application, opm owcp, OWCP benefits for federal workers, owcp denied claim, owcp dol, owcp site dol.gov, owcp vs. fers disability, postal owcp, postal service disability retirement, Postal Workers Comp, short- versus long-term owcp benefits, switching from workers comp owcp to opm disability retirement, the dangers of federal owcp benefits, total disabled owcp definition, total versus partial disability in owcp's and opm's laws, us dept of labor owcp, USPS disability retirement, USPS Workers Comp, usps workers compensation disability, Workers Comp is a temporary disability program, workers comp vs. federal medical retirement | Leave a comment »
OPM Disability Retirement: Agency Supervisors & Their Responsibility
Agency Supervisors possess powers which can be easily misused. As such, the Supervisor who must fill out a Supervisor’s Statement — Standard Form 3112B — for the disability retirement applicant, must do so with care, integrity, and a sense of reasoned perspective and fairness. “But I’m only telling the truth of what I believe,” is often the justification of a Supervisor who deliberately inserts damaging, self-serving and derogatory remarks on the Supervisor’s Statement. But such “truth” goes beyond the proper role of a Supervisor. Indeed, it is often helpful to discuss the content of intended remarks and statements with the Federal or Postal employee first. Such consultation provides a true and balanced opportunity — a field of fairness and a reasoned perspective — to ensure that a Supervisor is indeed being fair, balanced, and neutral, and not allowing for any personal “feelings” of acrimony or animosity to dilute and pollute a fair appraisal of an employee’s performance, conduct, and impact upon the Agency’s purpose, mission, and goals intended and accomplished. For, ultimately, a Supervisor’s Statement is not about what a Supervisor’s “belief” is; it is not about whether the Supervisor likes or dislikes a Federal or Postal employee; rather, it is supposed to be a balanced, objective perspective delineating the impact of a Federal or Postal employee’s performance or conduct, relative to his or her medical condition and the ability of that employee to perform the essential elements of a job.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Agency’s and/or Supervisor’s Actions | Tagged: abusive postal supervisors plague the workplace, attorney representing federal employees, avoiding deception during the federal disability application, disability retirement fers, disability retirement usps, essential elements of jobs, federal disability message boards, federal disability retirement blog, federal supervisor response to employee work injury, federal supervisors abuse of power, federal supervisors lies and half lies, fers disability application supervisor comments, FERS disability retirement, filing a supervisor's opm statement with care and integrity, harassment is not a medical issue, honesty always pays off, if your boss tries to hurt your federal disability application, it's all about work disability and job performance, letter carriers disability retirement, light duty accommodation versus disability retirement, limited duty assignments united states postal service, mail carrier injury on the job, medical compensation for federal and postal workers, Nexus between Medical Condition and Essential Elements, notifying the supervisor/agency, OPM disability retirement, personal injury at federal jobs, post office application for disability retirement, postal service disability retirement, postal supervisors and managers, postal workers injured on the job, retaliation against the injured ill federal employee worker, rural carrier on job injury, SF 3112B Supervisor’s Statement, Standard Form 3112b, supervisors and disabled employees in the US federal agencies, supervisors' revenge against Postal workers, the injured federal worker and the unfair supervisor, the venom of the supervisor, US Postal Disability, USPS disability retirement, usps workers compensation disability, when supervisors treat federal workers with dignity and respect, when the supervisor files the form with fairness and balance, work abuse at the US Postal Service | Leave a comment »