Last Updated on September 25, 2020 by FERS Disability Attorney
“That which the Federal Agency determines is tantamount to the hand of God — only more powerful.” Or so it may often seem. And so the Federal (and Postal) Worker will often wait with trepidation and anxious disturbances, caught in the limbo of a Federal bureaucracy, whether in issuing a leave-restriction letter, a warning, a formal PIP plan, a determination of being fit or unfit for duty, and multiple other actions which will adversely impact upon a Federal worker.
Preemptive actions rarely have any efficacy with a Federal Agency; an appeal to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board is often seen as a mere formality for the Board to render a decision in the agency’s favor, especially when it comes to agency actions concerning discipline and work; and an EEO complaint, while a tactic for forestalling ultimate decisions, is a burdensome and lengthy process of litigation.
Federal Disability Retirement is often the most advantageous of avenues to pursue, if only because the standard of proof to meet the eligibility criteria is quite low — not the high standard of Social Security Disability, where one must show a deleterious impact upon the daily living abilities, but the much lower standard of being unable to perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s job.
Proactive choices in life are often limited, especially when one is confronted with a seemingly omnipotent entity like a Federal Agency; but Federal Disability Retirement is an existent benefit which allows for the Federal or Postal employee to opt out and reach that rehabilitative period of seclusion, in order to regain one’s health and come back for another day, another fight, another round.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Tags:
adverse action for sick leave "misconduct",
adverse agency action,
agency actions against federal employee,
are you worrying about taking too much lwop to take care of your illnesses?,
awol instead of sick leave after serious injury or illness,
consequences of an agency's adverce action,
disciplinary action for using too much unscheduled lwop,
exhausting sick leave because of injury or illness,
fers disability retirement: following a course of action that will produce the best results in an intolerable situation,
filing grievance against the postal service and opm disability retirement,
for those disabled federal workers being placed on a pip,
getting annual leave to recover from injuries,
job reassignment cases following fmla-protected absences in the federal workplace,
letting the fers disability process take its course,
long sick leave because of stress in the federal government,
long term fmla for federal workers with disabilities,
medical retirement for employees in small us agencies,
owcp stress cases and federal agencies,
owcp worsening injury condition - what's the recourse?,
personal injury in a federal agency,
postal actions against the disabled employee,
postal service actions against the postal worker,
removal proposal against federal employees,
running out of annual leave all because of disabilities,
struggling with medical disabilities and the federal agency,
taking annual leave (al) for medical reasons,
the agency always wants injured workers to resign,
the federal agency and occupational medicine,
unfair agency's actions against light duty workers,
using awol as a tool for revenge,
usps and removal due to excessive use of lwop and sick leave,
what to do if there is a proposed termination pending against the fed worker?,
what to do when federal agency does not accommodate,
when disabled federal employees can't take it anymore,
when the postal service accuses you of awol