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    • 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 (79)
    • 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 (179)
    • OPM Disability & OWCP Workers Comp Filings (45)
    • OPM Disability & SSA Social Security Disability Benefits (40)
    • OPM Disability & VA Benefits (4)
    • OPM Disability Actors (289)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The Agency (54)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The Applicant (79)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The Attorney (55)
      • OPM Disability Actors – The Doctor (54)
      • 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 (2,114)
    • 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) (81)
    • U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Disability Retirement (36)
    • Uncategorized (362)
    • When the OPM Application Is Approved (14)
    • When the OPM Application Is Denied (95)

Postal and Federal Disability Retirement: The Volume-based Application

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Federal Disability Retirement Attorney

A declaration of the sheer volume of medical evidence submitted is often an indicator of the basis for which a Federal Disability Retirement application was formulated; for, in the end, if reliance of the successful outcome of a Federal Disability Retirement application is expected based upon the longevity and extent of a medical condition, the chances of an initial approval may be somewhat compromised to begin with.

Volume can never replace content; and from the perspective of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, there is often an underlying suspicion that receipt of a thousand pages of medical documentation indicates merely that volume of treatment is being substituted for the substantive content of meeting the required legal standards.

Much of medical notation and treatment records merely reflect a particular appointment’s mechanical applications — continuation of previous treatment plan; refill of prescriptions; standard positive or negative responses to particular questions; prospective treatment modalities; and, as supportive evidence attached to a substantive medical report, they can reinforce the satisfaction of the legal criteria of establishing the necessary nexus between one’s medical condition and the inability to perform the essential elements of one’s job.  But left as a replacement for the doctor’s explicit statement confirming such a nexus, it remains a hollow voice within an expansive but empty chamber.

One should never mistake the legal distinction between “primary” evidence and “supportive” evidence.  The former is meant to establish the nexus between one’s medical condition and the essential elements of one’s job; the latter is submitted to reinforce the former.  When one utilizes the former as the substitute for the latter, it is like the self-delusion that just because you are the best player on a pick-up team in your neighborhood, you are ready to enter into the world of professional sports.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Filed under: Application, Appeals, and Other Medical Documentation Submitted To the OPM | Tagged: a good measure of credible proof to show you are disabled under fers/csrs laws, a process that requires proof and documentation, a strong and solid foundation for your fers disability retirement case: high quality and a relative quantity of medical evidence, accurate and proper medical documentation key for getting fers disability, advice on the opm disability retirement paperwork and process, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, being careful with the medical documentation you submit to opm, building a strong opm claim doesn't take lots of medical documents, can you add medical documentation after originally submitting opm disability claim?, compiling medical evidence to support opm disability application, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, deciding what medical documentation is relevant to your opm claim, determining whether you have enough medical evidence for an opm claim, disability paperwork usps, do I have the appropriate medical documentation to support my fers disability retirement application?, documentation proof during the federal disability retirement process, emphasizing quality in submitting opm medical records, evidence needed to get my fers disability application approved, FERS disability retirement, finding persuasive evidence to approve your fers disability application, gathering medical documentation for an incapacitated federal employee, getting quality and substantial medical documentation, getting relevant medical documentation key in securing opm disability, getting the right forms and medical evidence for your federal disability application, giving only quality information in your fers disability retirement, handling your fers disability application paperwork to your agency, how much medical documentation opm disability retirement, insights to the opm proof-process, keeping track of all disability retirement paperwork submitted to opm, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, making rational arguments along with sound medical evidence, medical evidence a federal worker will need to retire for ptsd, nationwide representation of federal employees, opm disability application paperwork flow, opm disability legal sufficiency and proof, OPM disability retirement, place quality over quantity, postal service disability retirement, proof of disability for federal workers, proof of eligibility in federal postal disability, quality versus quantity on medical documentation, quantity and quality of information in the internet about the fdr process, relevance over quantity in opm medical retirement paperwork, representing federal employees from any us government agency, submitting a balanced and credible medical documentation to the opm, the nature of your medical conditions determines the quality and quantity of the medical documentation needed to win a case, the opm must evaluate medical documentation, time for the doctor to prepare a proper opm medical documentation, USPS disability retirement, usps medical documentation requirements, what kind of paperwork do I need to show I need to medically retire from the government, what medical documents to use in an opm disability application, what medical evidence is needed for an opm claim?, what other medical documentation to use in fers disability retirement, when the opm argues that your medical documentation is not good enough, your weakest medical documentation is the one that the opm may use to deny fers disability benefits | Leave a comment »

OPM Disability Retirement: Selective Prosecution

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Federal Disability Retirement Attorney

The term itself implies a sense of unfairness.  But fairness often depends upon a viewpoint, and the methodology which is applied, or failed to be applied.

Thus, in a Federal Disability Retirement case, whether under FERS or CSRS, if the U.S. Office of Personnel Management selectively extrapolates from medical reports, without giving a thorough review and analysis of the submitted documentation, then one may validly allege that such selective “prosecution” of a case has been unfairly perpetrated.

If, on the other hand, one applies the identical concept to the Federal or Postal employee who is the applicant filing for Federal Disability Retirement, then one’s perspective may change. Because the Applicant (the Federal or Postal employee) has the burden to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that one is entitled and eligible for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, it is therefore proper that the Federal or Postal employee also has the “right” to selectively choose which medical conditions to identify, and to support those medical conditions with the appropriate medical documentation and proof.

One could allege that allowing for the Federal or Postal employee to choose which medical documentation to submit amounts to a selective prosecution of the case; but to make such an allegation misses the point.  It is not the act of selectivity; rather, the methodology and the underlying foundation, which determines the fairness or unfairness of the process.  Everyone has to make choices; how that choice is made, and why, makes all the difference.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Filed under: OPM Disability Actors - The Applicant | Tagged: advantages that the federal disability retirement applicant has over the office of personnel management, being careful with the medical documentation you submit to opm, civil service disability, defining fairness in the federal disability retirement process, disability retirement at the USPS, documents you should not always submit to the opm, examining all and each document submitted to the opm, Federal Disability, federal disability retirement, federal disability retirement lawyer, FERS disability retirement, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, nationwide representation of federal employees, not playing by the rules: how the opm might sometimes deny your disability application, OPM disability retirement, opm medical documents, opm supportive medical documentation, owcp disability retirement, Postal disability, Postal disability retirement, representing federal employees in and outside the country, selective prosecution of the opm disability retirement law, the federal employee has the right to submit the medical documentation he or she deems necessary, the opm must evaluate medical documentation, the relative fairness of the opm disability process, understanding how the opm may use your medical documentation for its own purposes, USPS disability retirement, usps federal attorney, what documents should I turn over opm for my disability claim?, when the opm uses selective documents to deny your disability application, your medical retirement claim and the opm's selective picks, your weakest medical documentation is the one that the opm may use to deny fers disability benefits | Leave a comment »

  • More on 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.
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