Beyond PTSD: What attorneys need to know about psychological injuries. (Session II) Who is disabled under Federal Employee Law

Prudence Gourguechon, MD | Northwestern University

Dr. Gourguechon is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in active clinical practice in Chicago, Illinois since 1983. She was educated at Yale and the University of Michigan and trained in psychiatry at Northwestern University where she is currently on the faculty teaching fourth year residents. She is Past President of the American Psychoanalytic Association and a former Dean of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Gourguechon is a published author and invited speaker. She has extensive clinical expertise in trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, moral injury and other types of emotional injury and psychological damage due to trauma, discrimination, accidents, abuse (including the effect of childhood abuse in adulthood) and harassment. She has over 10 years’ experience as an expert witness and independent medical examiner specializing in cases involving claims of emotional injury and psychological distress due to traumatic and other painful events.

Dr. Gourguechon is the author of two books, Uncommon Perspectives on the Psychology of Investing and Uncommon Perspectives on the Psychology of Leadership. She writes on the psychological aspects of leadership for Forbes.com.

Eric L. Pines | Pines Federal Employment Attorneys

Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.

Mr. Pines has litigated a broad range of employment and labor law matters for federal employees. As a litigator, he and his firm have won significant amounts of funds for his clients. He most recently settled an FLSA case that granted 3,860 FEMA employees 16.5 million dollars’ worth of unpaid overtime for misclassified FEMA employees. He has successfully represented thousands of federal employees against claims for employment discrimination, wrongful discharge (removals), WPEA whistleblower complaints at both the trial and appellate court levels, as well as in FMCS labor arbitrations.

While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.

Mr. Pines has also served as a mediator for numerous federal agencies including serving a year as the Library of Congress’ in house EEO Mediator. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court for federal employee matters. He has also worked as an EEO technical writer drafting hundreds of Final Agency Decisions for the federal sector.

Mr. Pines’ firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. His first passion is his wife and five children. He plays classical and rock guitar and enjoys playing ice hockey, running, and biking.

Session I – Beyond PTSD: What Attorneys Need to Know About Psychological Injuries | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

1. What are the four types of psychological damage that can follow a difficult experience? | 1:00pm – 1:10pm
2. What is “trauma” and what is it not? | 1:10pm – 1:20pm
3. How the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder is misused | 1:20pm – 1:30pm
4. Why an expert must describe functional impairment as well as diagnosis | 1:30pm – 1:40pm
5. How to manage a plaintiff’s failure to seek psychological treatment while claiming emotional injury | 1:40pm – 1:50pm
6. Why some of the most severe psychological damage does not carry a DSM V diagnosis | 1:50pm – 2:00pm

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

Session II – Who is disabled under federal employee law | 2:10pm – 4:20pm

1. Disability Discrimination/ Reasonable Accommodation under EEO law | 2:10pm – 2:40pm
2. Disability Retirement for Federal Employees (OPM Disability Retirement) | 2:40pm – 3:10pm

Break | 3:10pm – 3:20pm

1. Federal Employee Compensation Act/ Workers Compensation (FECA) | 3:20pm – 3:40pm
2. Social Security Disability Insurance for FERS Employees | 3:40pm – 4:00pm
3. Disabled Veteran Leave for Federal Civilian Employees | 4:00pm – 4:20pm