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FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement for Federal and USPS Workers: Overlooking an Essential Element
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07/30/2010 by Federal Lawyer
Potential applicants who are considering filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS will sometimes ask the question, What are the essential elements of one's job? [...]
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Federal and Postal Disability Retirement: The Frustrating Process
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07/29/2010 by Federal Lawyer
As with most administrative dealings with the government (Federal, State or local), the process itself is a frustrating one. Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS [...]
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Early Retirement for Disabled Federal Workers: The Percentage Language Game
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07/28/2010 by Federal Lawyer
To the question: "What medical disabilities do you have," is often the response in terms of a percentage language game: "The VA has given me a ____"; "My doctor rated me at____". [...]
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OPM Disability Retirement: A Different Language Game
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07/27/2010 by Federal Lawyer
Wittgenstein was a philosopher who is well-known for his discussion about different "language games". In preparing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS, [...]
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Federal Worker Disability Retirement: Agency Accommodation Reiterated
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07/26/2010 by Federal Lawyer
In most cases, the agency is unable to accommodate the individual. By "accommodation" is often meant lessening the workload, or temporarily allowing for the medical conditions [...]
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Federal Worker Disability Retirement: Not all Agencies are Equal
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07/24/2010 by Federal Lawyer
No names will be named. Not for purposes of "protecting the innocent", because it is doubtful that there are any innocent entities, anyway. Rather, the knowledge that there are some [...]
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Medical Retirement Benefits for US Government Employees: Agency Adverse Actions
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07/23/2010 by Federal Lawyer
Agency actions of an adverse nature seem to go hand-in-hand with filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS & CSRS. If one pauses for a moment, one can easily understand [...]
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The Bracey Decision
Legal Analysis of Non-Statutory Laws
5 C.F.R. Sec. 831.1203 (a)(4), states that in order for a person to be qualified for disability retirement, the "employing agency must be unable to accommodate the disabling medical condition in the position held or in an existing vacant position." This definition was further clarified in the case of Bracey v. Office of Personnel Management, 236 F.3d 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2001), where the Court therein stated that an agency cannot stop a disability retirement application "by assigning an injured employee to an ad hoc set of light duties as long as it continues to pay the employee at the same level as before." (Page 1362) This means that your Agency cannot stop you from obtaining disability retirement benefits by giving you temporary, light duty, or menial jobs outside of your position description. The term "accommodation" is a narrow one, and an applicant needs to know this when going up against governmental agencies who are often opposed to a disability retirement application.
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