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OPM Disability Retirement: The Law and Language
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03/11/2010 by Federal Lawyer
Language is the playground of the Attorney. It is the heart and soul of his or her profession. Through language, the attorney describes, delineates, argues, and provides a sequential (hopefully) [...]
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Federal and Postal Disability Retirement: Revisiting the Concept of “Accommodations”
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03/10/2010 by Federal Lawyer
"Accommodation" is a legal term of art. At least, in preparing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS, it is a specific term, with specific definitions, with underlying [...]
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FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement: The Doctor
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03/09/2010 by Federal Lawyer
Out of all of the elements comprising a Federal Disability Retirement application -- the various aspects, including medical, personal, impact-statement, statement of disability, Supervisor's [...]
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OPM Disability Retirement: The 1-Year Rule
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03/08/2010 by Federal Lawyer
Periodically, I remind everyone of the various "1-year" rules which govern Federal Disability Retirement issues under FERS & CSRS. Since there are multiple applications of the 1-year rule [...]
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Federal and Postal Disability Retirement: The Appropriate Language Game
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03/07/2010 by Federal Lawyer
In filing an application for OPM Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS, there are many questions that are posed for the person who is just being introduced to the concept [...]
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FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement: Learning from Experience
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03/05/2010 by Federal Lawyer
The problems inherent in filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS are multi-fold and multi-tiered. Even today, after years and years of practicing in this particular area of law [...]
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OPM Disability Retirement: What to Do
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03/04/2010 by Federal Lawyer
Whether or not one should hire an attorney at the initial stage of the process of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS, or whether to wait for a denial [...]
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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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