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Harvey Friedman

I worked in the field of OPM Disability Retirement Law for 35 years of the more than 50 years I've been a lawyer. I was a pioneer in the field and won the enormous bulk of my cases on either initial application, reconsideration, or appeal. I successfully handled hundreds of federal employment cases such as accommodation, removal, etc.

Nowadays, I spend my time working on this blog, providing advice to disabled federal employees, and writing my memoir.

If you want to hear about how I learned what Disability Retirement is from my first Disability Retirement client, listen below:

Education

1965-JD University of Miami School of Law
1972-JSD Candidate, Columbia University School of Law

Bar Membership

Florida Bar
District of Columbia Bar

Professional Employment

Attorney, Civil Rights Division, US Office of Economic Opportunity
Attorney, Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Attorney, National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders
Attorney, National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence
Special Counsel, US Senate, Committee on the District of Columbia
Attorney, US Department of Justice
Director, American Bar Association, Special Committee on Crime Prevention and Control
Director, Courts Task Force, National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards
Assistant Professor of Law, (Detroit & Baltimore)

Private Law Practice

1978 to Present, Washington, DC

Mississippi Sheriff Throws Me In Jail

In 1966, it was not considered unreasonable or unusual for a white sheriff in a rural county in Mississippi, to detest the Federal government, let alone some white liberal lawyer working for the Federal government...

Boy Lawyer Wins the Day due to Judge's Toilet Urge

It was 1966 and this was my first civil rights hearing, actually my first hearing, civil rights or not. I was 26 and about one year out of law school. I had lucked out...

Moscow Party is a podcast about one of the many security clearance cases Harvey handled. It features KGB Agents, monopoly, lesbian affairs, and much much more! An exciting story completely unrelated to disability retirement, but we hope you enjoy nonetheless. Listen below.

CBS AIDS in the Military Video

Before turning to Disability Retirement Law, Harvey was an attorney for members of the US Military, including some who were diagnosed with AIDS and then faced a legal battle with the US Government. In 1982, Dan Rather's CBS Nightly News reported on a number of cases Harvey won for service members with AIDS.

Harvey briefly discusses the issue at the end of the clip.

About Jeremy:

Jeremy is the webmaster. He runs the blog, keeps track of who is contacting us, and helps Harvey write his memoir. If you are interested in his work, check out his website at www.jmneff.com.

And here is a little interview that I, Harvey, did with Jeremy back in his school days when he first came to work for me.

Articles

Don't Fear Asking Your Doctor for a Convincing Physician's Statement

We have a real problem with Physician’s Statements from doctors who are too busy to spend time writing them and unwilling to go out on a limb to say it like it really is. So you have to work around this. When it comes to doctors, you have to fi… Read More

Even if Removed for Misconduct, Agencies are REQUIRED to Fill Out Your Disability Retirement Forms

Following up on my earlier post about getting fired for misconduct: If you are fired for misconduct, that does not mean your agency can wash its hands of you and not cooperate with your claim for Disability Retirement. Your agency is still required t… Read More

Read More Articles

Disability Retirement Legal Manual

Is it true that legally I may be able to earn more while on disability retirement than I did while working in my old government job?

ANSWER: Yes. By keeping your earnings in your new job just below the 80% ceiling and combining these earnings with your disability annuity, you can, without any penalty, earn more than you formerly did when you were healthy and employed by the government. Nor is there anything illegal or unethical about purposely keeping your earnings below the 80% ceiling and as a consequence, earning more on disability than you earned previously.

Will OPM check up on me to see if I am still disabled or if I have been restored to earning capacity? If so, how, and how often?

ANSWER: Yes, they will check up on you, but the experience of most of my clients is that they will not harass you to get you off disability retirement. This policy, by the way, is different from that of the Department of Labor, which has a reputation for unrelentingly harassing employees in an effort to get them off workers' compensation. The disability retirement law requires OPM to check on your medical condition at least once a year and also permits them to check up on you whenever they so desire. The results are uneven and sporadic. Some employees are contacted within a few months of going on disability retirement while others are not contacted for years. Although OPM has the power to send annuitants to government-appointed physicians, it usually requires you to have your own physician answer a series of questions, which may be the same or similar to those previously asked on the "Physician's Statement." As to monitoring for restoration of earning capacity, that is done on an annual basis through a questionnaire, and you may, in addition, be required to provide copies of your tax returns.

If I lose my disability annuity by earning too much, can I ever get it back?

ANSWER: Yes. Although you will lose your disability retirement annuity if you are "restored to earning capacity," you may reapply. On reapplication, you will have to demonstrate not only that your earnings have diminished for an entire calendar year below the 80% ceiling, but also that you are still disabled from your old government job (and not some other job) by the same disability (and not some other disability) that disabled you before. This can be very tricky. The best advice: make sure that you keep your earnings under the 80% ceiling.

Is there an earnings limitation in that other job?

ANSWER: Yes. The law allows you to collect your full disability retirement annuity so long as you are not "restored to earning capacity." You are considered "restored to earning capacity" if in any calendar year your earnings from wages, self-employment, or both (but not passive investments) reaches or exceeds 80% of the current rate of basic pay of the position you occupied immediately before retirement. The rule is very strictly construed and you will be stripped of your annuity even if you exceed the 80% ceiling by even a single penny. If you think that you may fall within the scope of this rule, be very sure to find out precisely how it is applied by OPM. For instance, OPM may include in its definition of income, earnings that IRS may exclude from its definition of income.

If you are "restored to earning capacity," you will lose your entire disability retirement annuity, not just some percentage of it. Loss of your annuity will also mean loss of other benefits, including loss of your group health insurance, which will always be more favorable than the individual conversion policy to which you may thereafter be entitled. Persons over 60 years of age are exempt from this 80% earnings limitation.

Read more answers at our Legal Manual

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