Federal and Postal Disability Retirement: The Frustrating Process

As with most administrative dealings with the government (Federal, State or local), the process itself is a frustrating one.  Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS is a process which necessarily entails patience, and along with it, a quiet frustration because of the multiple levels of administrative procedures which one must undergo.  

I recently went and watched the De Caprio movie, Inception, which involves a complex and convoluted plot-line of attempting to convince an heir to a great business fortune, to break up the company.  The way to convince the young heir was to involve him in a dreamworld of mental constructs without his knowing it, and to plant an idea into his subconscious that he should break up the company, and thereby fail to compete with another company.  If the short “telling” of this plot line is confusing and convoluted itself, you may imagine how the movie itself is.  Yet, at an IMAX Theater, it was enjoyable, and my son certainly enjoyed it.  

The point here is that the convoluted process of getting from point A to point B, is to take a simple conceptual paradigm and make it into a confusing morass of a long and involved movie.  Filing for Federal Disability Retirement has that same sense of the absurd; of a process which is convoluted beyond a simple concept; and the waiting part is the most frustrating of all.  Then, when the end comes, either with an initial denial or an approval, it is anti-climactic.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal Disability Retirement Benefits for Federal & Postal Employees: Waiting

Waiting for a decision to be rendered by the Office of Personnel Management for a submitted Federal Disability Retirement application, either at the Initial Stage of the Process, or after filing additional medical documentation and legal arguments at the Reconsideration Stage of the process, can be an agonizing time.  It is easy to say, “Patience is the key“, when each day passes without a word.  A call to the Office of Personnel Management will rarely yield any positive results.  Yes, there are some supervisors and contacts which can be helpful in the process, but ultimately too much undue pressure can sometime backfire.  Is there a statutorily mandated time-frame within which OPM must respond and make a decision?  Normally, they will inform you that they try and make a decision within 90 days of whatever the beginning of the time-frame they ascribe, but it can take much longer.  The key to the entire process is to survive the time of waiting, however long that may take.  Survival is best endured if one recognizes at the beginning of the process, that this is one process which can take a long, long time.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal and Postal Disability Retirement: Approvals & Disapprovals

The Office of Personnel Management seems to have recently issued a volume of decisions on Federal Disability Retirement applications on Federal and Postal employees under FERS & CSRS.

From the calls received from non-clients, and from clients, one sometimes wonders whether or not some sort of “quota-system” isn’t being imposed at the top levels.  Yet, statistically, the percentage of disapprovals v. approvals is not noticeably different than before; it is difficult to determine in any given period of time whether or not there is a higher rate of denials/disapprovals than approvals, in comparison to other periods.

What matters is not the general rate of approvals or disapprovals; rather, each individual case must be taken on its own merit, and responded to with the Office of Personnel Management (or, if the denial is at the Reconsideration Stage, then an appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board) in a timely fashion, and in a tailored, appropriate manner.

Each case is indeed “different”.  One cannot compare one case with “war stories” about how X filed his or her application and got it approved “within a week”.  Such rumors can never be verified, and even if it could be verified, there are always individual and unique circumstances which must be taken into account.

Comparisons between different time periods, as well as between two or more independent cases, are never helpful; instead, the focus must be to take the uniqueness of any given case, and decide on the best course of action in order to obtain the one and only outcome which is acceptable for any given OPM Disability Retirement case under FERS or CSRS:  an ultimate approval.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement for Federal and USPS Workers: Continuing Patience

It is difficult to be patient.  The Office of Personnel Management, in reviewing and evaluating each case, takes its time.  One can attempt to “read into” each day, as to whether the longer wait is more beneficial than a decision which is to be made in short order.  Calling to check on the “status” of the case can have a negative effect upon a decision, although it is not “supposed to” do so. 

Often, the response by OPM’s representative is that a decision will be made “this week” or “next week” or “by the end of the month”.  Time passes, and there is no decision.  These past couple of weeks, OPM has sent out many decisions that were long-in-waiting.  When the decision is a favorable one, then of course the burden of the wait is suddenly lifted.  When the decision is a denial, then the response is often one of anger, disbelief or discouragement.  Once the emotions are set aside, then one must accept the reality of further waiting.  Yes, patience is a virtue, and Federal and Postal employees must be the virtuous of all people.  But those are empty, vacuous and meaningless words when one must wait to see what the future holds. 

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire