Last Updated on February 20, 2012 by FERS Disability Attorney
In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, the Federal or Postal employee must satisfy certain requirements (one often views such legal requirements and criteria as “obstacles” as opposed to procedural steps to be taken and satisfied) in order to have what is deemed by the Office of Personnel Management as a “complete” package which can be reviewed and determined for approval or denial.
As part of the requirement, one must have an SF 3112D completed — the Agency’s “Certification of Reassignment and Accommodation” form. This form is the one which satisfies the question, “Don’t I have to ask for an accommodation from the Agency?” The answer to the question is satisfied in the very act of the Agency completing the SF 3112D, and one need not separately or independently have asked the agency the question. It is, as such, part of the administrative process and procedure which the agency must engage in and satisfy.
There is often a mistaken idea that the Federal or Postal employee must make a separate and formal request of the Agency. But it is in the very act of completing the form — the SF 3112D — that the tripartite issue is resolved: In the completion of the form, the (A) question of accommodation is asked, (B) the issue of accommodation is answered, and (C) the requirement that the agency address the issue of accommodation is satisfied.
No separate or independent effort, either by the Agency or the Federal or Postal employee, need be expended, for purposes of preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire