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     To reiterate: Situational disability can be an issue which can defeat a disability retirement application, precisely because OPM (and if it gets to the MSPB level, the Administrative Judge) can conclude that the Psychiatric disability in question originates and results in response to the hostile workplace environment.   These three concepts are important to understand -- originate, result in, and result "in response to".   A... Read More

     The danger of falling into the trap of situational disability, which is one of a number of reasons for denying a disability retirement application, can come about quite regularly, especially because, in the face of contending with a medical disability that is serious enough to warrant changing one's career, of filing for medical disability retirement -- there is often the Agency's contentious response, of needing to have the continuity of the work accomplished, of... Read More

     The next step beyond the Merit Systems Protection Board, of course, is a choice:  You can either file an immediate appeal to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, or file a Petition for Review before the Merit Systems Protection Board, where the decision of the Judge at the Merit Systems Protection Board will be reviewed by a panel of 3 Administrative Judges.  Normally, I recommend taking the latter route, only because it allows for another step to win,... Read More

The third step in the process of filing and obtaining disability retirement from the Office of Personnel Management is to appeal the case to the Merit Systems Protection Board.  This is initiated after a disability retirement application has been denied twice:  First, at the initial stage, then, upon a request for reconsideration and an opportunity to submit additional medical and other documentation, if the Office of Personnel Management denies the application a second time,... Read More

     Care at every step of the way in preparing a disability retirement application is the key to winning.  The metaphorical "dots" that need to be created and connected, will ensure that each aspect of a disability retirement claim is not seen as independent entities, but a part of a larger whole.  When an individual is unrepresented, there is a tendency in filling out the multiple forms that each form is a separate piece of information. ... Read More