FERS Medical Disability Retirement for Federal and USPS Workers: Beyond the Approval Letter

Last Updated on August 30, 2022 by FERS Disability Attorney

There are many stories of U.S. Federal Government employees and Postal Service workers who suffer from physical, emotional and cognitive (psychiatric as well as progressively deteriorating neurological disorders) health conditions, who continue to endure within the confines of a Federal or Postal job, for years and years.

Federal Employee Disability Retirement allows for a Federal employee or Postal Service worker who has a minimum of 18 months of Federal Service under FERS (5 years under CSRS, which is already a very safe assumption by now that such minimum eligibility requirements have already been met for CSRS employees) to continue to be productive as an employed member of the workforce — but in a different capacity.

Each story is a unique one —  filled with a narrative of human suffering, of long enduring pain, hostility, and often discriminatory actions by the employing Federal Agency or the U.S. Postal Service.  The disability attorney who represents the Federal or Postal employee, however, has a specific and unique role.  He or she is not the Federal or Postal employee’s friend, therapist, doctor or financial advisor.  Instead, the disability attorney’s job should retain a singular focus — to obtain the Federal Employment Disability Retirement benefits for the applicant who is seeking such disability benefits.

For, after all, it is only upon the satisfaction of the foundational basics that a Federal or Postal employee can then “move on” and go beyond the impact of a chronic medical condition — to recuperate; to start a second career; to repair the physical, emotional and psychiatric impact of the past year or more; and to begin rebuilding your life after experiencing the jubilation of an approval letter from the Office of Personnel Management.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire