Federal employees may be entitled for federal disability retirement when an injury or illness keeps the employee from performing at least one essential function of the federal employee’s job. Our team of attorneys can handle all aspects of your federal disability retirement application process, including preparing your application, working with your medical providers to obtain the proper medical documentation to support your disability retirement application, requesting a reconsideration of an adverse OPM determination, and appealing an adverse decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Federal disability retirement is a benefit that is part of federal employees’ FERS or CSRS retirement plans. This benefit allows federal employees to retire early if an injury or disability impairs their ability to perform one or more essential functions of their job. The injury or disability need not occur at work to be eligible for federal disability retirement. Our attorneys have experience helping federal employees navigate through the complications of filing for a disability retirement.
We are available to help federal employees through all the stages of the disability retirement application process.
Stage 1: Federal Disability Retirement Application
Our attorneys will meet with you to discuss your medical condition and disability retirement application. They can advise you on the steps of submitting your disability retirement application and proving that your injury or disability inhibits your ability to continue doing your job. This includes, most importantly, assisting with a review of your medical testimony. We can help work directly with health care providers in order to make the process as seamless as possible for you. While the disability retirement process may seem complication to some, our attorneys have assisted with this process so many times that they are able to navigate the process with ease. Our attorneys will help you determine what information needs to be presented to the Office of Personnel Management in order to support your disability retirement application and show that you cannot be accommodated in your position.
Stage 2: Reconsideration Requests
Sometimes federal employees are denied disability retirement during the initial application phase. This can occur for several reasons, and our federal employment attorneys can look at your denial and determine what information needs to be added to your disability retirement application to prove to OPM that your disability retirement should be approved.
Stage 3: MSPB Appeals
If your disability retirement application continues to be denied after your reconsideration request, you have the right to appeal your case to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Our attorneys regularly appear before the MSPB in a variety of cases, including disability retirement appeals. If you think that your reconsideration request was improperly denied, please contact one of our federal employment attorneys.
Contact Us for a Consultation on Your Disability Retirement
We are here to simplify the disability retirement process for you. If you would like to schedule a consultation on your disability retirement application, please contact our office at (757) 460-3477 or go to our Contact page.