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The Attig Law Firm has successfully helped a Veteran recover over 11 years of past-due benefits for Total Disability/Individual Unemployability.
In this recent case, our client (a peace-time Veteran of the US Army) started out without any service connection for his medical conditions.
The Attig Law Firm assisted him by spending years challenging his denied claim to the CAVC, and the BVA and the VA Regional Office (VARO, Little Rock). On remand from the CAVC and BVA, the Firm helped the Veteran-Client secure an overall 70% rating for his multiple conditions.
As a result of his unemployment due to the collective effect of these conditions, the Veteran's compensation rate should have been lifted from 70% to 100% under regulations regarding Total Disability and Individual Unemployability (TDIU). When the VA failed to properly grant this Veteran a 100% rating for TDIU, the Attig Law Firm, PLLC, worked with the Veteran and the VA Regional Office to ensure that the decision was corrected. As a result of the Attig Law Firm's advocacy for this Veteran over the course of five (5) years, the Veteran has received 11 years of past due TDIU benefits.
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April 2011: The Attig Law Firm helped 3 clients succeed in their application for survivor benefits to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). After an appeal and hearing before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), an Administrative Judge of the MSPB reversed OPMs denial of a survivor benefit and ordered OPM to pay the benefit to our clients.
Our clients were the children of a Federal annnuitant/retiree, who passed away shortly after his retirement. The surviving children filed a claim for certain survivor benefits, which OPM promptly denied. OPM claimed that the survivors were not eligible for the benefit as the deceased retiree had not filed a "Change in Designation of Beneficiary" prior to his retirement from his employing Agency.
Discovery and a hearing before the MSPB determined that OPM was incorrect - not only did the deceased retiree file a Change in Designation of Beneficiary prior to his retirement, but OPM also had - at the time of its decision denying the benefit - this form in its custody and control.
The clients have applied to the MSPB to order OPM to reimburse the attorney fees and costs which they paid and incurred in the course of reversing OPM's erroneous decision. |
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February 2011: The Attig Law Firm helped a client succeed in her application for disability retirement under FERS; the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has granted our client’s application for disability retirement.
The federal employee was a FERS employee of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) diagnosed with chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Due to the sensitive nature of the Employee's conditions, and the events surrounding it, no further details will be provided.
The PTSD prevented the employee from performing her job, and she appleid for disability retirement from OPM in June 2010. OPM denied the application in August 2010, and the Attig Law Firm requested reconsideration on behalf of the employee. The employee was ultimately removed from IRS in February 2011 due to medical inability to perform the essential functions of her position, at which time OPM granted FERS disability retirement to the employee without the need to file an MSPB appeal.
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May 2011: The Attig Law Firm helped a client succeed in his application for disability retirement under FERS; the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has granted our client’s application for disability retirement.
The federal employee was a FERS employee of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The employee was a letter carrier, and permanent injury to his rotator cuff prevented him from doing his job as a letter carrier. OPM granted the disability retirement application within five (5) months of the date that it assigned a Claims number.
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January 2011: The Attig Law Firm was successful in helping a client apply for disability retirement under FERS; the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has granted our client’s application for FERS disability retirement.
The federal employee was a FERS employee, and a supervisor with the Department of Veterans Affairs. His disabilities included severe and permanent conditions ranging from paralysis to internal infections. Due to the sensitive nature of his work and disabilities, further or more precise details will not be publicly posted.
Due to special circumstances and the extreme nature of the disabilities, attorney Chris Attig asked OPM to expedite the application for disability retirement. OPM granted the disability retirement application within three (3) months of the date that it assigned a Claims number.
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The Attig Law Firm recently learned that its client was successful in his application for disability retirement under FERS, and that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has granted our client’s application for disability retirement.
The federal employee was a FERS employee of the Department of Homeland Security (CBP). He was initially injured on the job when exposed to toxic chemicals. He was awarded disability retirement due to the severe and chronic nature of his disabilities, including lumbar disk problems, toxic encephalopathy, vetigo, ataxia, and depression. Due to the nature of his work and disabilities, further details will not be publicly posted.
Due to special circumstances and the extreme nature of the disabilities, attorney Chris Attig asked OPM to expedite the application for disability retirement. OPM granted the disability retirement application within four (4) months of the date that it assigned a Claims number.
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September 2010 - The Attig Law Firm successfully assisted a Federal Employee in securing disability retirement benefits through the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Our client was a Heavy Equipment Operator in a defense-related Federal Agency. Among many other limitations, our client had a back condition that prevented him from lifting heavy objects over 5 lbs at work, and constant pain in his neck and beck at work. From the time the application was filed, it took OPM approximately 4 months to grant the client disability retirement. |
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August 2010: A client of the Attig Law Firm was awarded VA Disability Compensation for his back condition. The Veteran was initially referred to the Attig Law Firm in 2007 when his claim for Veteran's Disability Compensation was before the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC). The Attig Law Firm secured a remand of his case to the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) for further development of evidence due to, among other things, a Stegall violation. On remand, the BVA referred the matter to the VA Regional Office (VARO). The VARO then granted service-connection, awarded an effective date of 2002, and paid past due benefits in excess of $90,000. The Veteran continues to challenge the VA's denial of service-connection for other conditions. |
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August 2010: After an oral reply, the Attig Law Firm was able to persuade an Agency to mitigate our client's proposed removal to a 7 day suspension. For a variety of reasons, we will not disclose the Agency or the specific nature of the charges. The Appellant contended that she had not engaged in the conduct that the Agency alleged was misconduct. The client's significant contributions to civil service over the past 2 decades, the nature of the charges, and the support from her colleagues, and supervisors, appeared to be significant factors in persuading the Deciding Official that our client still had quite a bit to contribute to Federal service, and he chose not to remove her. |
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August 2010: The Attig Law Firm successfully settled a client's MSPB Appeal of his removal from the Department of the Air Force. The client was terminated for allegedly falsifying time/attendance documents, among other charges. After filing the client's MSPB Appeal with the Chicago Regional Office of the MSPB, the Agency and the Attig Law Firm agreed to pre-appeal ADR (Alternate Dispute Resolution). At mediation, the Agency agreed to reinstate our Client to his civil service position, with a portion of his attorney fees and no loss in seniority, and additional benefits/terms. |
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July 2010: The Attig Law Firm succeeded in persuading OPM to withdraw its reconsideration decision reducing our client's retirement annuity. Upon receipt of OPM's reconsideration decision reducing our client's retirement annuity, the Attig Law Firm filed an MSPB Appeal with the Western Regional Office. OPM claimed that it had overpaid the client's retirement annuity for several years; in discovery in the case, the Attig Law Firm learned that the period for which OPM wanted to claim a reduction was time our client had spent on the Agency rolls for a compensable on-the-job injury through OWCP. Since the time on Agency rolls receiving OWCP benefits was, in this case, creditable towards the retirement annuity, our client was repaid past-due benefits due to OPM's reduction in his annuity. |
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June 2010: The Attig Law Firm assisted a Federal employee of the Social Security Administration in settling his MSPB Appeal. The client had been suspended for thirty (30) days for allegations of misconduct that grew out of a miscommunication between the employee and his supervisor about expectations. The Agency agreed to reimburse a portion of the client's attorney fees, among other terms. |
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June 2010: The Attig Law Firm succeeded in persuading OPM to withdraw its reconsideration decision reducing our client's retirement annuity. Upon receipt of OPM's reconsideration decision reducing our client's retirement annuity, the Attig Law Firm filed an MSPB Appeal with the Dallas Field Office. OPM claimed that it had overpaid the client's retirement annuity for several years; in discovery in the case, the Attig Law Firm learned that the period for which OPM wanted to claim a reduction was time our client had spent in a position covered by the Law Enforcement annuity provisions . Since the time was, in this case, creditable towards the retirement annuity as a Law Enforcement Officer, our client was repaid past-due benefits due to OPM's reduction in his annuity. |
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March 2010: The Attig Law Firm successfully settled an MSPB Removal Appeal for its client, a former employee of the Department of Homeland Security. The settlement included reinstatement of the employee to the Agency's employment rolls, and a clean record, attorneys' fees and costs, and assistance in helping the Federal Employee elect to optionally retire from his Federal Civil Service. |
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December 2009: The Attig Law Firm successfully settled an MSPB Removal Appeal against the Department of Veterans Affairs. Due to the sensitive nature of the case, the terms of the settlement will not be discussed here. The settlement involved close coordination, over a period of several months, with the Agency attorney, the MSPB Administrative Judge, an EEOC Administrative Judge, and employees/attorneys with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). |
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September 2009 - Without the need for discovery or a hearing, OPM reversed its decision denying our client disability retirement benefits. Our client had a medical condition arise during her Federal Civil Service, and as a result of the hospitalization and treatment of that condition, she was out of work for several months. Her employer fired her for being absent. She applied for disability retirement after her termination. OPM initially denied the claim, but after being provided with medical records and legal argument from the Attig Law Firm, OPM decided to reverse its decision and grant disability retirement. |
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March 2009 - A client of the Firm prevailed in her Constructive Suspension Appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). The MSPB also issued a rare finding of disability discrimination. The Department of Homeland Security was found to have constructively suspended our client from February 2005 to the present when it placed her on LWOP, involuntarily. Because our client was ready, willing, and able to work in her position, and because the Agency discontinued an effective and reasonable accommodation to place our client in LWOP, the MSPB issued a decision finding that DHS committed disability discrimination when it constructively suspended our client. |
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March 2009 - After discovery before the MSPB, including third-party discovery on a separate government Agency, the Office of Personnel Management rescinded its reconsideration decision reducing our client's annuity for alleged failure to pay the military service credit deposit. Our client argued that the Agency's administrative error - specifically, providing him incorrect guidance about the impact of not making the military service credit deposit - caused him to not make the deposit prior to retiring. Our client will be given the opportunity to make his military service credit deposit and will receive an increased annuity for the rest of his life. |
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March 2009 - After an administrative hearing before the EEOC, an Administrative Judge issued notice of his intent to find that our client had been the victim of disability discrimination when he was not selected for a quasi-supervisory Work Leader position. The matter will likely be settled without the need for the Administrative Judge to issue a finding of discrimination. |
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February 2009 - The Firm secured a default judgment of discrimination from an EEOC Administrative Judge. The Department of Justice failed on multiple occasions to respond to multiple orders of the Administrative Judge. Due to this failure, the Administrative Judge found that the Agency discriminated against our client based on sex, and has issued an Order for a Compensatory Damages hearing. |
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