Administrative

     OPM's methodology is important to understand in preparing a Federal Disability retirement application.  Such understanding of the methodology, however, must be for a singular purpose:  to refine the methodology of the applicant in preparing a disability retirement application.  Thus, lessons learned must be lessons applied.  An applicant must not be overly general in listing and describing the medical conditions.  The list of medical... Read More

When the Office of Personnel Management approves a disability retirement application, as I stated in the previous article (OPM's Methodology), they will normally choose to approve it based upon only one of the listed disabilities.  This is because, from OPM's viewpoint, if the applicant lists multiple medical disabilities, once OPM reaches any one of the listed disabilities and finds that one of them is a basis for an approval, there is no further need for OPM to review the remaining... Read More

     When the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) approves a disability retirement application, a separate page from the approval letter will often be attached, which states the medical basis upon which the disability retirement application was approved.  The separate page will often state something to the effect of:  "You submitted an application for disability retirement based upon medical conditions, A, B, C & D; however, your application was... Read More

    In moderating the Martindale-Hubbell Message Board for Federal Disability Retirement Issues, two areas of law need clarification for those out there contemplating filing for Federal Disability Retirement under FERS or CSRS:  First, the issue of whether a potential applicant needs to wait to be separated from Federal Service in order to obtain the "Bruner Presumption", before filing for disability retirement.  The short answer is an unequivocal,... Read More