[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 2]
[Revised as of January 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR844.202]

[Page 338-339]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
          CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED)
 
PART 844_FEDERAL EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM_DISABILITY RETIREMENT
--Table of Contents
 
            Subpart B_Applications for Disability Retirement
 
Sec. 844.202  Agency-filed disability retirement applications.

    (a) Basis for filing an application for an employee. An agency must 
file an application for disability retirement of an employee who has 18 
months of Federal civilian service when all of the following conditions 
are met:
    (1) The agency has issued a decision to remove the employee;
    (2) The agency concludes, after its review of medical documentation, 
that

[[Page 339]]

the cause for unacceptable performance, attendance, or conduct is 
disease or injury;
    (3) The employee is institutionalized, or the agency concludes, 
based on a review of medical and other information, that the employee is 
incapable of making a decision to file an application for disability 
retirement;
    (4) The employee has no personal representative or guardian; and
    (5) The employee has no immediate family member who is willing to 
file an application on his or her behalf.
    (b) Agency procedures. (1) When an agency issues a decision to 
remove an employee and not all of the conditions described in paragraph 
(a) of this section have been satisfied, but the removal is based on 
reasons apparently caused by a medical condition, the agency must advise 
the employee in writing of his or her possible eligibility for 
disability retirement and of the time limit for filing an application.
    (2) If all of the conditions described in paragraph (a) of this 
section have been met, the agency must inform the employee in writing at 
the same time it informs the employee of its removal decision, or at any 
time before the separation is effected, that:
    (i) The agency is submitting a disability retirement application on 
the employee's behalf to OPM;
    (ii) The employee may review any medical information in accordance 
with Sec. 294.106(d) of this chapter; and
    (iii) The action does not affect the employee's right to submit a 
voluntary application for disability retirement or any other retirement 
benefit to which the employee is entitled under FERS.
    (3) When an agency submits an application for disability retirement 
to OPM on behalf of an employee, it must provide OPM with copies of the 
decision to remove the employee, the medical documentation, and any 
other documents needed to show that the cause for removal results from a 
medical condition. Following separation, the agency must provide OPM 
with a copy of the documentation of the separation.
    (c) OPM procedures. (1) OPM will not act on any application for 
disability retirement filed by an agency on behalf of an employee until 
it receives the appropriate documentation of the separation. When OPM 
receives a complete application for disability retirement under this 
section, it will notify the former employee that it has received the 
application and that he or she may submit medical documentation. OPM 
will determine entitlement to disability benefits under Sec. 844.203.
    (2) OPM will cancel any disability retirement when a final decision 
of an administrative authority or court reverses the removal action and 
orders the reinstatement of an employee to the agency rolls.