We recently assisted a federalelectronics engineer with his FERS disability claim. He suffers from several psychiatric illnesses, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and major depressive disorder.
Because his symptoms were severe enough to prevent him from reporting to work on a consistent basis, we were able to work closely with his agency to remove him 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).
We’re excited to report that this client’s disability claim was approved just recently – congratulations and good luck!
Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative.
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