Unfortunately, reality often outperforms and upstages any attempt at fictional characterization of the workplace. Often, the meanness and temperamental behavior of a supervisor in the “real” workplace can never be properly represented by an actor’s attempt in a sitcom or a drama; the persistent, irrational, capricious and outright cruel behavior and acts of “the boss” or one of his/her underlings can never be accurately depicted in fiction. Further, the reality of the consequences of such behavior can be devastating. Workplace stress resulting from demeaning behavior, intentional acts to undermine, cruel and arbitrary acts against a specific employee, can all result in serious medical consequences.
It is all well and good to talk about internal procedures — of filing an EEOC Complaint; filing a grievance; filing a complaint based upon discrimination, etc. But beyond such agency procedures to protect one’s self, there is the problem of the eruption of a medical condition, be it Major Depression, Anxiety, panic attacks, physical symptoms of IBS, chronic pain, headaches — some or all of which may result from such stresses in the workplace. There is no diagnostic tool to establish the link between the medical condition and the workplace stress.
For Federal and Postal employees thinking about filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS, there is the context of harassment & stress in the workplace, and then the medical condition which prevents one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job. Sometimes, it is difficult to bifurcate the two. That which is difficult, however, must sometimes be accomplished in order to be successful. The origin of the medical condition may have to be set aside, because it “complicates” the proving of a Federal Disability Retirement application. If one is contemplating filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, the story — however real — of the workplace harassment, may have to be left behind.
Sincerely, Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability and a Hostile Working Environment | Tagged: abusive supervisors and federal disabled workers, an unfair situation in the federal workplace does not prove eligibility, avoiding using the "hostile environment" term in your opm disability claim, bullying in the postal service, bullying postal supervisor and the injured federal employee, causation and situational-disability legal terms in opm disability law, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, disability eeoc cases against federal agencies, discrimination against disabled federal workers and eeoc, EEOC and OPM disability retirement, emotional distress at the Post Office, federal and postal workers with severe migraine headaches, federal disability attorney, federal supervisor's demeaning behavior, federal supervisors abuse of power, federal union grievance arbitration disability, fers disability and the issue of where the injury originated, FERS disability retirement, filing a grievance in the usps for disability discrimination, filing for disability and other union grievances against an agency, harassment and bullying by federal government supervisors, hostile work environment in the Post Office, injured employees working under abusive supervisors, long lwop sick leave for stress, long sick leave because of stress in the federal government, medical condition origin not relevant when filing for fers disability, migraine headaches, opm disability and federal discrimination cases, opm disability for stress is possible just don't make it situational, OPM disability retirement, owcp disability retirement, owcp stress cases and federal agencies, pervasive migraine headaches in the postal service, postal service harassment and discrimination against owcp com employees, postal service's violations of federal antidiscrimination laws, postal stress and depression can be situational in nature, postal supervisors and managers, psychiatric disability in OPM Disability Retirement, psychiatric disorder caused by a hostile work environment, situational disability and the hostile environment claim, situational OPM disability, stress disability for federal employees, stress in the federal workplace, supervisors and disabled employees in the US federal agencies, the dangers of getting your opm claim situational, the unfair postal supervisor, usps and bullying by managers, USPS disability retirement, usps employment discrimination to postal workers with stress, usps stress related disability retirement, warning to federal employees about situational disability, when the injury originated while working for the us government, work injury then supervisor harassment at us federal agencies, your supervisor and federal disability retirement | Leave a comment »
Federal Employee Medical Retirement: The Potential Drawback
One of the potential drawbacks in pursuing collateral employment issues concomitantly with a Federal Disability Retirement application is that, as such employment issues are active and clearly in the collective consciousness of the Agency, the Supervisor, and all involved, the issue itself often gets sneaked into a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS via the back door.
This is not necessarily a negative thing, but can be a potential drawback if the Supervisor insists upon inserting the details of the collateral action in the Supervisor’s Statement. Whether such insertion and accompaniment with a Federal Disability Retirement application is “proper” or not, is a separate matter. From the perspective of the applicant who is awaiting a decision from the Office of Personnel Management, it matters not as to the proper actions of the Agency. What such actions by the rogue supervisor does, is to deflect the focus away from the medical issue, and redirects the reviewing official/representative at OPM that the “reason” for one’s early retirement is not one based upon a medical issue, but rather, is because of stresses or other factors caused by a hostile work environment, harassment issues, etc. This is normally a proposition which can be easily sidestepped, by arguing to OPM that whether or not such workplace issues have any basis or not, the treating doctor has nevertheless stated X, Y & Z. However, it can still be problematic, and that is why collateral workplace issues should be avoided, if at all possible.
Sincerely, Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability Actors, Theory and Practice: Tips and Strategies for a Successful Application | Tagged: avoiding using the "hostile environment" term in your opm disability claim, cases where the opm claims situational disability, collateral issues while on the federal disability retirement application process, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, dealing with an harassment issue and the usps disability application, disability eeoc cases against federal agencies, discrimination against disabled federal workers and eeoc, eeo complaints and workers comp, federal disability attorney, fers disability application supervisor comments, FERS disability retirement, harassment in the Postal Service, harassment is not a medical issue, hostile work environment federal government, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, many federal disability retirement cases are situational at the beginning, mixing discrimination complaints and medical issues in the usps disability retirement application, mixing your federal disability retirement claim with other lawsuits, nationwide representation of federal employees, neutralizing negative statements from supervisor's statements in sf 3112b, OPM disability retirement, owcp disability retirement, postal service disability retirement, potential problems with your fers disability application, psychiatric disorder caused by a hostile work environment, pursuing collateral issues besides csrs disability retirement, remembering that opm disability retirement is primarily a medical issue, representing federal employees in and outside the country, situational disability and the hostile environment claim, Standard Form 3112b, supervisors' revenge against Postal workers, the dangers of getting your opm claim situational, the injured federal worker and the unfair supervisor, the limited power of a supervisor in the fers disability retirement process, the unfair postal supervisor, the venom of the supervisor, unequal treatment issues in the federal workplace, USPS disability retirement, why the sf 3112b matters less than the doctor's statements, your supervisor and federal disability retirement | Leave a comment »