Last Updated on September 3, 2009 by FERS Disability Attorney
In my last writing, I briefly discussed why filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits is, and must be looked upon as, a “process” as opposed to a mere “filing” with an expectation of an “automatic” approval. This is because there is a legal standard of proof to be met, based upon a statutory scheme which was passed by Congress, and based upon a voluminous body of “case-law” handed down by the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. With this in mind, it is wise to consider that, because it is a “process” with two administrative “stages” to the process, as well as an Appeal to an Administrative Judge at the Merit Systems Protection Board, then potentially to the Full Board via a Petition for Review, and finally to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals — as such, each “step” in the process would naturally have a different and “higher” level of the laws governing Federal Disability Retirement.
Because of this, it is often a frustrating experience for applicants, because a rejection or denial at the First Stage of the process often reveals the utter lack of knowledge by the OPM representative of the larger compendium of case-laws that govern and dictate how disability retirement applications are to be evaluated and decided upon. Often, the so-called “discussion” of a denial letter is poorly written, meandering in thoughtlessness, and self-contradictory and with unjustifiable selectivity of statements from a medical report or record. Such poor writing reflects a first-level decision-making process, and can be a frustrating experience upon reading the denial letter. It is good to keep in mind, however, that the entire application procedure is a “process”, and each level is designed to have a greater level of competency and knowledge in the law.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Tags:
Administrative Law,
an overall winning approach to the whole opm disability process,
analyzing the opm denial letter,
becoming discouraged during opm disability process,
endless waiting for the opm to process disability application,
Federal Circuit Court of Appeals,
federal disability retirement application and process,
fers disability and form filling application,
fers disability questions,
fers disability retirement and the burden of proof concept,
fers litigation and case laws on disability benefits,
filing for opm disability retirement,
going through the disability retirement process,
laws governing federal employees disability law,
legal knowledge and core competency of opm disability laws,
legal standards must be met during the opm disability process,
looking at the opm disability process as a whole,
Merit Systems Protection Board,
MSPB and OPM disability retirement,
opm administrative law and procedure,
opm case-law decisions,
OPM Denial Letter,
opm disability and planning for the future,
opm disability case laws,
opm disability denied for ungrounded reasons,
opm disability law and the preponderance of evidence concept,
opm disability: a form filling or a legal process?,
opm legal principles embodied in judicial decisions,
OPM Representative,
planning an opm disability strategy that goes beyond form filling,
postal service disability attorney,
preparing an OPM disability application for the long term,
preparing for a long-term federal disability case,
statutes and regulations governing disability retirement law,
statutory legal standard of disability or impairment,
statutory requirements in OPM disability law,
the Administrative Judge at the MSPB,
the administrative process to get medical disability,
The Denial at the First Stage,
the dynamic nature of disability retirement case law,
the federal disability applicant's frustration after the first rejection,
the long-term approach from the very beginning,
the non-attorney opm representative,
The OPM MSPB and Federal Circuit steps,
the opm representative's first-level decision-making process,
the scrutiny of the administrative law judge,
thinking mspb while filing a postal retirement application,
understanding the whole opm disability process,
us post office disabilty,
usps disability attorney,
USPS disability retirement
i really need help in getting the right information needed for my federalretirement disability under multi chemical sensentivity.first i tried to received worker comp,they initially approve than my doctor did not send diagnosis,prognois timely.than i decided i really could not worker under the circumstances of my job that countinue to spray chemical in the enviroment daily.telling me i have no rights and they cannot stop them from spraying daily.my story of my exposure and finally a diagnosis has been long.diganosis 03/19/09.
I’m seeing mostly talk about OWCP which I understand is a tough process but, what about non workers comp disability time frames after retirement. I’m talking about the regular Civil Service Disability Retirement without it being a Workers Comp request. Many years of working hard without any specific injury to document where the condition was caused? How long after regular CSRS retirement may you file to request being changed to a non work related disability and disability retirement versus normal retirement.