Stress is a reality which has become a normal aspect of everyday living. The more stress we feel, the greater interpretation of outside actions as harassment; and thus does the vicious cycle begin. Life is stressful enough. When another ingredient is added — like a medical condition that weakens one’s body and mind — the tolerance for stress becomes reduced and the capacity to keep things in its proper perspective becomes impossible to manage. Stress always seems to come in bunches, doesn’t it?
When you are dealing with a medical condition, everything and everyone you interact with becomes a stressful encounter. For Federal employees and U.S. Postal Service workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition prevents you from performing one or more of the essential elements of your job, the stress of dealing with the medical condition itself is more than enough.
Add to it, your agency or the postal facility will inevitably begin to pressure you to return to work, to file this or that request, to follow their “procedures”, etc. Whether such actions are objectively considered “harassment” or not is beside the point; you, as the Federal or Postal employee, are dealing with enough factors without having to deal with the harassment factor.
Contact an OPM Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and begin the process of reducing your stress levels by initiating a Federal Disability Retirement application with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
OPM Disability Retirement, Et Cetera… 