At what point does a house of cards collapse, when based upon assumptions and presumptions? The words are used interchangeably; the slight conceptual distinctions may be of irrelevant import to justify differentiation. One can perhaps quibble that assumptions point more toward the conclusory stage of an argument, whereas presumptions often involve the prefatory issues in a logical sequence of argumentation.
Both engage suppositions not based upon “facts”; and, of course, there is the problematic issue of what constitutes facts, as opposed to mere assertions of events and opinions derived from such facts and events; with the further compounding and confounding task of sifting through what was witnessed, what was thought to have been observed, when, who, the intersection between memory, event, and sequence of occurrences, etc.
Presumably (here we go using the very word which we are writing about, which is rather presumptuous to begin with), Bishop Berkeley would have allowed for either and both to be used in order to maneuver through the world without bumping into chairs and tables which, for him, were mere perceptual constructs in the subjective universe of “ideas” in the heads of individuals. And Hume, for all of his logical deconstructionism concerning the lack of a “necessary connection” between cause and effect, would assume that, in the commonplace physical world we occupy, presumptions are necessary in order to begin the chain of sequential events. Waking up and walking down the stairs to get a cup of coffee, one need not wait for the necessary connection between thought and act in order to begin the day.
For Federal and Postal employees who are considering filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether one is under FERS or CSRS, proceeding through the administrative morass of one’s agency and ultimately into the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, based upon the dual deterrents of assumptions and presumptions, can be a harrowing experience. It is not the factual basis which defeats a Federal Disability Retirement application filed with OPM; rather, it is always the baseless presumptions and assumptions which kill the successful outcome.
Medical facts must be established; narrative facts about the impact upon one’s inability to perform the essential elements of one’s job can be asserted; but it is always the connective presumptions and unintended assumptions which complicate and confuse. Always remember that a narrative based purely upon presumptions and assumptions cannot possibly exist without the concrete adhesives of some foundational facts; like a house of cards, it waits merely for the gods of chance to blow a puff of unforeseen breath to topple the structure that was built without an adequate foundation.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tagged: a good medical narrative support is essential for a fers disability retirement application, a strong and solid foundation for your fers disability retirement case: high quality and a relative quantity of medical evidence, additional documents a federal disability applicant may use as part of evidence in a federal disability retirement claim, applicant preponderance of evidence burden in federal employees, building a strong case before filing for disability benefits with the office of personnel management, building a strong foundation on rock before the perfect storm, building your fers disability foundations over rock, compiling medical evidence to support opm disability application, connecti, emphasizing quality in submitting opm medical records, empirical evidence on opm disability claims, evidence needed to get my fers disability application approved, explaining how your medical condition affects the quality of your work as a federal employee, explaining preponderance of evidence under fers disability retirement law, getting more medical evidence after an opm denial - is doing so enough?, getting quality and substantial medical documentation, help building the pillars that will support a strong federal disability retirement case, legal foundations for a strong fers disability case, legal opm disability terms and presumptions, preparing for a strong fers disability case, prevailing wrong assumptions about federal disability retirement, the appropriate factual argumentation in your specific opm disability claim, the assumption that the opm disability application reader will also have common sense, the connection between disabilities and hostile work environments in the federal workplace, the light duty employee and building your foundations in solid rock, the nature of your medical conditions determines the quality and quantity of the medical documentation needed to win a case, the right perspective and legitimate assumptions when filling out fers/csrs disability retirement forms, using only reliable information for the basis of your decision making during the opm disability process, weight of evidence fers disability retirement, what supportive documentation or evidence really means under opm disability law, wrong assumptions that will spell disaster after submitting an original federal disability retirement application, your own decision after observing how your illness affects the speed and quality of your work in the federal workplace |
OPM Disability Retirement 
Leave a Reply