Five doors. Five different questions.
A denial at one door says nothing about the others — and an approval at one can change what the rest will pay.
OPM Disability Retirement
The career exit: a lifetime annuity, and health coverage carried into retirement.
Federal Workers' Comp
For job-caused conditions. Can pay more today — but builds no retirement annuity.
Social Security Disability
Required alongside a FERS filing. Offsets apply, and they change after year one.
VA Disability
Service-connected compensation, generally payable alongside salary or annuity.
Reasonable Accommodation
The path that can save your career — and years more of earning and service credit.
Before you elect, resign, or file —
get both opinions.
Your situation has more moving parts than any single benefit system. Federal Workers' Compensation may pay more than OPM today — but builds no retirement annuity for tomorrow. OPM and Social Security overlap, and the offsets change after the first year. Reasonable accommodation might save your job entirely — and years more of earning and service credit. Finding out whether you qualify is always free — for everyone: the eligibility check and the OPM & benefits analysis cost nothing. From there, the Pines Federal team handles representation on a flat fee — and for those who want the highest-level read, a premium paid analysis with Eric Pines himself is available by request.
Eric L. Pines, Esq.Founder · Pines Federal · 30 Years in Federal Employment Law
Three decades representing federal employees across every chapter of this map — accommodation, OPM disability retirement, EEO, MSPB, and Social Security. Eric leads the firm's strategy and personally conducts a limited number of premium analyses — a paid, high-level review of the whole picture for complex situations, by request. He has also earned the ChFEBC℠ (Chartered Federal Employee Benefits Consultant) and FRC (Federal Retirement Consultant) designations in federal benefits planning — the rare attorney credentialed on both sides of the map. |
FP
Independent Financial PlannersFederal Benefits Financial Planning · Independent of the Firm
Financial professionals — not attorneys. We work with independent federal-benefits financial planners who provide your complimentary analysis: what each election is worth over a lifetime, annuity versus wage-loss, offsets, FEHB in retirement, survivor decisions, TSP timing — before anything becomes irreversible. Their services are provided independently of the law firm, and Pines Federal receives no compensation, referral fee, or commission from them, and no fee is paid or received in either direction for a referral — the analysis is offered because the financial picture and the legal picture have to be read together. |
The column federal employees
are reading this summer.
Eric Pines writes an ongoing series for FedWeek on the reasonable-accommodation crisis and the disability decisions that follow it.
| I |
Stuck in the Reasonable Accommodation Backlog? Delays May Violate Your Rights
Why an agency's silence is not neutral — and what the Rehabilitation Act actually requires.
|
FedWeek · Jul 2026 |
| II |
When Accommodation Fails: The Disability Retirement Path Most Employees Don't Know They Have
The bridge from a failed accommodation to a successful OPM application.
|
FedWeek · Jul 2026 |
| III |
SSDI: The Benefit FERS Requires You to Apply For — and Why So Many Feds Leave It on the Table
The mandatory application almost everyone treats as paperwork.
|
FedWeek · Aug 2026 |
| IV |
FMLA and Reasonable Accommodation: Avoid the Traps That Turn Medical Leave Into AWOL
Staying on the rolls — and protected — while your case develops.
|
FedWeek · Aug 2026 |
| V |
An Actual Million-Dollar Question: Who Qualifies for OPM Disability Retirement, and Who Doesn't
The eligibility standard, told straight — including who shouldn't apply.
|
FedWeek · Aug 2026 |
The right choice can be worth millions over your lifetime — literally. The wrong one can forfeit benefits you already earned. Complimentary OPM & benefits analysis · Flat-fee representation · Premium paid analysis with Eric Pines by request