What to Bring to a Disability Retirement Consultation
Emily A. Hall ·
Whether you are meeting with a consultant, an attorney, or simply sitting down to assess your own situation seriously, the quality of the conversation depends heavily on what is in front of you.
An hour spent reconstructing basic facts from memory is an hour not spent on strategy. Here is what to gather.
Employment documents
- Your position description. The single most important document, and the one people most often cannot locate. It defines what you are being measured against.
- Your most recent SF-50. Establishes your series, grade, appointment type, and service history.
- Performance appraisals for recent years. Strong ratings while struggling can support your account rather than undermine it.
- Attendance and leave records if you can obtain them. Documented missed time is evidence.
Medical documents
- A list of your treating providers — names, specialties, and roughly how long each has treated you.
- Your diagnoses, with codes if you have them.
- Any existing work restrictions a provider has documented.
- Recent test results — imaging, labs, or evaluations that support your limitations.
You do not need to arrive with your complete medical file. A clear picture of who treats you for what, and what has been documented, is more useful than a box of paper nobody has time to read.
Agency correspondence
- Any accommodation requests you made and the responses.
- Any reassignment offers — this is a threshold issue and it matters.
- Any proposed or pending personnel actions.
- Any separation documentation if you have already separated. The date matters enormously for the filing deadline.
Benefits information
- VA disability rating documentation, if applicable.
- Social Security application status, if you have applied.
- Any FERS retirement estimates you have received.
Your own written summary
Before any consultation, write two or three paragraphs describing what is happening in your own words: what changed, when, how it affects your work, and what you have tried.
This does two things. It gives whoever you are speaking with an immediate picture. And it forces you to organize your own thinking, which is valuable regardless of who reads it.
Your actual questions
Write them down beforehand. People arrive with three questions that matter to them and leave having asked none of them because the conversation went elsewhere.
If timing, finances, or a decision you are weighing is what actually keeps you up at night, that is what the hour should address.
If you cannot find something
Come anyway. Missing documents are recoverable and knowing which ones you need is itself a useful outcome. Waiting until everything is perfect is how people let a filing deadline pass.
The Federal Disability Review offers strategy consultations with a written roadmap. Eligibility determinations are made solely by OPM.
Keep reading
- Do You Actually Qualify? The Five Threshold Questions
- The Role of Your Position Description
- When You Need an Attorney — and When You Don’t
If you would like this reviewed against your own situation, see the Strategy Consult.