The Washington Post reported on a bill presented in the United States Senate, requiring federal managers to receive more and regular training in a variety of areas. One area of training would be “people skills” training.

After reading the article, I had a few questions:

1) What took so long?
2) Isn’t it a bit sad that we need legislation to instill leadership and people skills in our Federal Management workforce?

3) Can I provide a list of managers that really need the training?

Read [...]

I recently had a chance to read through a copy of a guidebook written by Michael Snider and Morris Fischer.

The book is entitled “Fight for your Rights: A Federal Employee’s Guide to the EEO Process”, and is available for $35 at: http://www.sniderlaw.com/pages/book.html

As any federal employee who has gone through the administrative EEO process knows, proving a discrimination claim against the Federal government can be a daunting task. There are some really great legal tools out there to help work [...]

In a previous post, we outlined “5 Steps to Prove Eligibility for FERS Disability Retirement.”

We outlined the 5 basic steps: Eligibility, Disability, Continuity, Reassignment, and Appeal.

This post will discuss Step 5: Appeal.

You’ve shown that you are eligible for disability retirement, your disease/injury is preventing you from providing useful and efficient service, and the Agency is unable to reassign or accommodate you. What next?

Contact your Agency Human Resources or Labor Relations specialist, or contact  OPM to get the proper forms to file [...]

In a previous post, we outlined “5 Steps to Prove Eligibility for FERS Disability Retirement.”

We outlined the 5 basic steps: Eligibility, Disability, Continuity, Reassignment, and Appeal.

This post will discuss Step 4: Reassignment.

Before counseling an employee to seek  disability retirement or supporting an employee’s application for disability retirement, an Agency must make every reasonable attempt to accommodate the employee.

To do this, the Agency should review all vacant positions under in the Agency, at the same grade and pay, in the commuting [...]

In a previous post, we outlined “5 Steps to Prove Eligibility for FERS Disability Retirement.”

We outlined the 5 basic steps: Eligibility, Disability, Continuity, Reassignment, and Appeal

This post will discuss Step 3: Continuity.

We touched on this step in an earlier post. In order to qualify for benefits, you must have an injury or disease that is likely to continue for one (1) year from its onset. The primary rationale for this element is to ensure that employees applying for [...]

In a previous post, we outlined “5 Steps to Prove Eligibility for FERS Disability Retirement.”

We outlined the 5 basic steps: Eligibility, Disability, Continuity, Reassignment, and Appeal.

This post will discuss the second step: Disability.

If you were asked to define disability, you might say that it is a medical condition that prevents a person from doing something other people do with relative ease. That’s a good starting point. Problem is that the law, in its infinite wisdom, has dozens of different [...]

In a previous post, we outlined “5 Steps to Prove Eligibility for FERS Disability Retirement.”

We outlined the 5 basic steps: Eligibility, Disability, Continuity, Reassignment, and Appeal.

This post will discuss the first step: Eligibility.  Most employees have little difficulty meeting the Eligibility requirements for disability retirement under FERS/CSRS. There are two big ones:

1) 18 months of federal civilian service (FERS) or 5 years under CSRS , and,

2) while in a position subject toFERS/CSRS.

To determine if you are in a position covered by FERS, you [...]