NOTE: Pursuant to Fed. Cir. R. 47.6, this disposition 

is not citable as precedent. It is a public record.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit 

04-3288 

MARCIA M. GAYLE, 

 Petitioner, 

v. 

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, 

 Respondent. 

__________________________ 

DECIDED: November 5, 2004 

__________________________ 

Before MAYER, Chief Judge, PLAGER, Senior Circuit Judge, and PROST, Circuit 

Judge. 

PER CURIAM. 

Marcia M. Gayle petitions for review of the final decision of the Merit Systems 

Protection Board (“Board”) sustaining the decision of the Office of Personnel 

Management (“OPM”) that denied as untimely her application for disability retirement 

benefits under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (“FERS”). We affirm. 

An application for disability retirement benefits under FERS must be filed with 

OPM before the employee’s separation from service or within one year of separation. 5 

U.S.C. § 8453 (2000). This time limitation may be waived if the employee is “mentally 

incompetent” on the date of separation or within one year thereafter and files her 

application within one year of her restoration to competency. Id.
04-3288 2

Ms. Gayle was separated from her position at the Defense Commissary Agency 

on August 31, 1996. She applied for disability retirement benefits on June 5, 2002, and 

thus did not file her application within the statutory one-year time period. Therefore, the 

only question in her case is whether she was mentally incompetent from August 31, 

1997, to June 5, 2001. 

After reviewing the medical documentation submitted by Ms. Gayle in support of 

her claim, OPM found that she did not demonstrate she was mentally incompetent 

during the relevant period and accordingly dismissed her claim for disability retirement 

benefits. OPM denied her request for reconsideration, and Ms. Gayle appealed to the 

Board. The Board’s administrative judge affirmed OPM’s decision after examining the 

submitted medical evidence. Gayle v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., No. NY-844E-03-0202-I-1 

(M.S.P.B. July 18, 2003) (initial decision). The initial decision became the final decision 

of the Board when Ms. Gayle’s petition for review was denied. 

On appeal to this court, Ms. Gayle contends that her medical records show she 

was unable to function during the relevant time period. The Board found that the only 

document indicating Ms. Gayle was mentally incompetent is a doctor’s statement 

consisting entirely of conclusory assertions and lacking a reasoned explanation for its 

findings. Furthermore, the Board found the doctor’s statement was contradicted by 

more detailed medical records that were contemporaneous with Ms. Gayle’s medical 

treatment and that did not show she was incompetent during the time in question. 

Based on our review of the record, we cannot say the Board’s decision that Ms. Gayle 

was not entitled to a waiver of the one-year time limit is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse 

of discretion, not in accordance with the law, or unsupported by substantial evidence, 
04-3288 3

the standard for our review of the Board’s determinations on mental incompetence. See

5 U.S.C. § 7703(c) (2000); McLaughlin v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., 353 F.3d 1363, 1367 

(Fed. Cir. 2004).