CSRS & FERS Disability Retirement: SF 3112C
Standard Form 3112C, the Physician’s Statement, is often an ineffective way of getting one’s treating doctor to prepare and write an effective medical report for a disability retirement […] Read More …
OPM disability application tips
OPM Disability Retirement: Always Verify Submissions
The old saying: Measure twice, cut once, can be adapted here: Verify twice, submit once. I am always surprised by Federal and Postal employees who have filed for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS to hear that a […] Read More …
OPM Disability Retirement: Argument by Analogy
Attorneys argue “by analogy” all of the time; cases and decisions from the Merit Systems Protection Board, and language from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, provide the fertile fodder for such argumentation. Thus, such issues […] Read More …
CSRS & FERS Disability Retirement: Beware the Layman
Attorneys create and manufacture a parallel universe of statutory interpretation, legal argumentation, case-law citations, and extrapolations from esoteric provisions in arguing the “finer points” of law. Thus, it is a temptation for the lay person […] Read More …
OPM Disability Retirement: The Filing II
People often come to me at the 2nd (Reconsideration) Stage, or the 3rd (Merit Systems Protection Board) Stage, and ask that I correct the mistakes made in the initial filing. Most mistakes can be corrected. Of course, it would have been better if the Applicant had done it properly the first time, for once […] 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 …
OPM Disability Retirement: an Art Form II
In constructing the narrative of one’s story of the human condition and how it impacts the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, it is important to weave the story such that it relates as a story. Every story has a beginning and an end; every story must contain the […] Read More …
CSRS & FERS Disability Retirement: OPM’s Specific Denial II
It is important to always “define”, “corner”, and “circumscribe” any denial from the Office of Personnel Management. If you do not, then what happens at the next level is that it becomes a “de novo” process. Now, one might argue that all disability retirement appeals to the Merit Systems […] Read More …
Federal OPM Disability Retirement: Be Discerning
In many ways, there is too much information “out there” about anything and everything. The area of Federal Disability Retirement Law under FERS & CSRS is no different (and, admittedly, the irony is that I may be adding to the […] Read More …
CSRS & FERS Disability Retirement: Is there a higher standard of proof for Psychiatric Disabilities?
I am attempting to address the issue of Psychiatric medical disabilities in the context of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS & CSRS, by addressing the issue from various perspectives and angles, in an effort to inform the reader in different ways. […] Read More …