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The U.S. Office of Personnel Management's Overwhelming Resources Against the Applicant


The U.S. Office of Personnel Management's Overwhelming Resources Against the Applicant

The unfair advantage which the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has over the individual Federal or Postal Service disability applicant in a FERS Disability Retirement application is self-evident: they totally control the timeframe of the decision; they are not really subject to any repercussions or consequences for a decision contrary to FERS employee disability law; they possess multiple templates in disapproving a Federal Employee Disability Retirement application, and a single template upon approving a disability claim, thereby making it administratively easy, simple, and without any need of expending much effort.

For the U.S. Government employee or Postal Service worker who is contemplating preparing, formulating or filing for FERS Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, it is a daunting task to go up against such a behemoth of a Federal administrative bureaucracy. 

Indeed, the Federal employee applicant, or his or her FERS attorney, only needs to review a denial letter from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to comprehend the near-impossible obstacle which OPM can present to the medical retirement claim:  in some disability denial letters, there is merely a brusque and very short “discussion” explanation, barely touching upon providing any logical reason for an application denial; yet, in other disability denials, there are several long and detailed templates — however erroneous or misplaced, and however lacking of any legal, medical, or factual basis — which ostensibly “explains” the legal basis of the application denial.  

In either case, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management has the “upper hand”, at least for the time frame they control during the first two disability retirement stages of the Federal Disability Retirement process. Also, because in the initial stage, it is merely a kicked-up to the next stage in the process, and thus the appeal is handed over to another OPM Disability Specialist. Against such a huge government entity, it is important to be prepared with knowledge, legal tools, and the ability to cut through the administrative nonsense which passes for their legal authority.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire


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