OPM Disability Retirement: Correcting a Misconception

I will have to write an article entitled, ten mistakes people make in filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS. Or, better yet, perhaps it would be helpful to point out […] Read More …

Federal and Postal Disability Retirement: The Necessary Doctor

Ultimately, the doctor who is necessary is the one who will be supportive. Whenever the question is asked of me whether it is “necessary” to have the support of this or that doctor, […] Read More …

OPM Disability Retirement: The Administrative “Process”

I have previously written about how a Federal Disability Retirement application should be prepared: that it should be looked upon as an administrative “process”, and as such, it is not like taking a test for a driver’s license, or […] Read More …

CSRS & FERS Disability Retirement: Viewing the Office of Personnel Management

Agencies are “like” people; they are “organic” organizations (a redundancy?), and as a corporate-like entity, they respond and react as people do: cerebrally, emotionally, reactively, angrily, etc. If one views an agency in this way — treating the entity as one would a person — then you […] Read More …

CSRS & FERS Disability: The Filing

Never be deceptive in your filing. Always be truthful. To be deceptive or untruthful will harm your credibility, your case, and ultimately, may defeat your ability to obtain disability retirement benefits. Now, there is a conceptual distinction between being “truthful” and emphasizing certain issues of your case, while leaving […] Read More …

Federal Disability Retirement: Symptoms Versus Diagnosis

If disability retirement were merely a matter of determining the proper diagnosis of a medical condition, and having a doctor ascribe a percentage rating of disability, then the process of disability retirement would substantively be altered, and perhaps there would be far fewer cases to adjudicate at the Merit Systems Protection Board level. For, if Read More …

Federal Disability Retirement: Getting the Bruner Presumption

If an individual is successful in persuading the Agency to remove him or her for his/her medical inability to perform the job, then the entitlement to what is coined as the “Bruner Presumption” is obtained. This is a great advantage, but one which is often misunderstood. Remember that, under Bruner v. Office of Personnel Management, Read More …