| The subject of today's post is whether obesity, or | | | | surgery" might be too drastic to expect a disability |
| morbid obesity, might qualify you for FERS or CSRS | | | | retirement applicant to undergo. The Administrative |
| Disability retirement through OPM. Obesity is a | | | | Judge didn't say "would" be too drastic - it just "might" |
| documented and diagnosable medical condition. | | | | be too drastic. |
| In the world of Federal Disability Retirement | | | | There are two ways that a Federal employee or |
| applications, however, OPM employees and MSPB | | | | Postal worker who is obese and who is seeking |
| Administrative Judges still cling to the prejudice that | | | | benefits from OPM for disability retirement to |
| obesity is a choice-based situation: that the Postal | | | | approach this judicial and/or institutional prejudice |
| worker or Federal Employee who is morbidly obese is | | | | against the obese or morbidly obese. |
| at fault for their condition. For those reasons, the OPM | | | | The first, and I think the best, is to remove any |
| and MSPB seem to hold individuals with obesity or | | | | possibility that either the Office of Personnel |
| morbid obesity to a higher standard. | | | | Management or the Merit Systems Protection Board |
| Medical doctors and experts in the field of medicine | | | | can get to the faulty conclusion. Talk to your treating |
| have identified a number of medical conditions, as well | | | | physician, and have him or her include a letter in the |
| as physical factors and genetic influences which can | | | | Federal Disability Retirement application stating any one |
| cause an individual to be obese. Some of these | | | | or more of the following: |
| include: obesity, including: pituitary gland tumors, pituitary | | | | 1) Weight reduction programs and fasting and exercise |
| gland disease, craniopharyngioma, | | | | were medically advised but not successful despite the |
| pseudohypoparathyroidism, reduced metabolic rates, | | | | patient's best efforts; |
| rader-Willi syndrome, Frohlich syndrome, underactive | | | | 2) Weight reduction programs and fasting and |
| thyroid, as well as certain types of brain tumors, | | | | exercise were not medically advisable and were not |
| chromophobe adenoma, and many many more. | | | | part of the medical treatment plan for the patient |
| Despite developments in medical science, which show | | | | 3) Weight reduction programs and fasting and |
| that obesity is not caused solely by eating too much, | | | | exercise would have actually harmed the patient. |
| the Administrative Judges of the MSPB cling to their | | | | Any one or more of these statements from your |
| archaic legal analysis in disability retirement appeals | | | | treating physician should keep OPM or the MSPB from |
| filed by Federal employees or Postal Workers who | | | | applying the Institutional Prejudice against the Obese. |
| are obese. | | | | The second way, and this is for the warriors out there |
| Here's how it works. The MSPB Administrative Judge | | | | that like long litigation and protracted legal battles that |
| will start from a faulty premise: the federal employee | | | | take years to resolve. Challenge the OPM and MSPB |
| or postal worker who has been diagnosed as obese | | | | institutional prejudice. Hire an attorney that knows |
| simply eats too much or has made a personal choice | | | | about the prejudice, is in it for the long haul, and see if |
| to become obese. | | | | you can overturn the MSPB precedent (or at least, get |
| The MSPB Administrative Judge will follow the faulty | | | | a decision that makes it clear that the obese do not |
| premise to its logical conclusion: the Federal employee | | | | have an affirmative duty to show the MSPB and OPM |
| or postal worker will be required to prove that they | | | | that they followed weight reduction treatment plans |
| either: a) took advantage of medical suggestions for | | | | before entitling them to disability benefits. Cases in the |
| exercise and weight reduction programs and the | | | | MSPB move very quickly, the law moves very slowly, |
| suggestions did not work, or b) that medical | | | | and it will take a long and concerted effort to challenge |
| suggestions for exercise and weight reduction were | | | | the MSPB's institutional prejudice against the obese or |
| not medically advisable. This is the legal equivalent of | | | | morbidly obese. |
| the MSPB requiring diabetics to prove that they took | | | | While other Federal employee and USPS workers can |
| part in a sugar reduction program, and it didn't take. | | | | be denied disability retirement if there is a record that |
| For the obese, or morbidly obese, OPM and MSPB | | | | they failed to follow their medical treatment plans, the |
| Administrative Judges hold that the disabling obesity | | | | obese (and some individuals with mental health |
| "...flowed not from the disease or injury itself, as | | | | conditions) are the only ones that effectively have to |
| required by statute, but from voluntary failure or refusal | | | | convince the Administrative Judge that their obesity is |
| to take available corrective or ameliorative action." | | | | not a personal choice, or something that can be fixed |
| One memorable decision hinted that extreme | | | | by jumping jacks and fasting. |
| measures, such as "modified fasting" or "bypass | | | | |