We recently assisted a federalgeologist with his FERS disability claim. He suffers from combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as the result of several deployments to Afghanistan over the past decade as an Army Reservist.
We helped this client gather pertinent medical records, which we organized and presented to the agency. Armed with this documentation, the agency proceeded to remove the employee from federal service for “medical inability to perform.” A medical removal is often a win-win situation for the employee and agency alike, because the employee is entitled to the Bruner presumption of disability, and the agency is free to fill the employee’s slot with a suitable replacement. In addition, once an employee has been separated for more than 31 days, he/she is able to file a claim of disability directly with OPM (rather than having to go through the agency, which is often time-consuming, tedious, and inefficient).
Because this client was separated for medical inability, the agency recognized his entitlement to severance pay. The 52 weeks of severance payments helped keep the employee and his family “afloat” while they waited patiently for OPM to approve his FERS disability application. Congratulations and good luck!