Opinion ID: 689874
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Retirement Disability

Text: 12 Under 5 U.S.C. Sec. 8337(a) (Supp. IV 1992), [a]ny employee shall be considered disabled only if the employee is found by the Office of Personnel Management to be unable, because of disease or injury, to render useful and efficient service in the employee's position and is not qualified for reassignment, under procedures prescribed by the Office, to a vacant position, which is in the agency at the same grade or level and in which the employee would be able to render useful and efficient service. 13 Disability retirement is a last resort, appropriate only when reasonable efforts to preserve the person's employment have failed. We agree with Board precedent holding that the agency must make reasonable efforts to alleviate any service deficiencies through accommodation, including reassignment, before it counsels an employee to seek disability retirement or supports an employee's request, as here, for disability retirement. See Green v. United States Postal Serv., 47 M.S.P.R. 661, 668-70 (1991); Boomer v. Department of the Navy, 34 M.S.P.R. 636, 638-39 (1987). See also Peter B. Broida, A Guide to Merit Systems Protection Board Law & Practice 1675, 1685 (10th ed. 1993), and cases cited therein. This includes reviewing the appropriate vacant positions at the same grade and pay to determine if the employee meets the minimum qualification standards for any of them. If any such vacant positions are available, the employee is not eligible for disability retirement. 5 U.S.C. Sec. 8337(a); 5 C.F.R. Sec. 831.502 (1993). The Board has held that this requirement applies even if the employee is no longer employed by his or her agency due to resignation. Park v. Office of Personnel Mgt., 38 M.S.P.R. 426, 429 (1988).