Medical Retirement Benefits for US Government Employees: The Waiting

We wait in lines and on telephones; we wait for the mail and to be served in restaurants and supermarkets; waiting is a necessity, based upon a closely-held belief that the end-product for which we expend such virtues as patience is worthy of the investment of time. There is always a quick calculation which must be engaged before the waiting can begin; of weighing the importance of the service or product to be received, in conjunction with the time it will take to attain the goal of receipt, and in further consideration of the comparative value of other things “to do”.

For the Federal or Postal Worker who is filing for Federal disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal Worker is under FERS or CSRS, the worth of waiting must always be balanced with the proverbial question, “For what?”

Waiting for a Federal agency or the U.S. Postal Service to initiate an action which may or may not impact a Federal Disability Retirement application is normally not “worth” it, for such a wait may never produce anything fruitful. Waiting because to do otherwise — to act — will incur efforts of cognitive or physical exhaustion is something which will only delay an inevitable need, and is therefore unwise to engage, is something that must be often countered by sheer force of will.

On the other hand, once a Federal Disability Retirement application is filed with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the real game of waiting begins, and one which no one has very little and limited control over. For, ultimately, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management — the agency which has the authority to approve or deny a Federal Disability Retirement case — has the cards which count, and the requested product of the goal to attain: a decision on a Federal Disability Retirement application filed by the Federal or Postal Worker.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

CSRS & FERS Medical Disability Retirement: Development

Aristotle speaks often in terms of the spectrum between potentialities and actualization, revealing the philosophical concerns surrounding man’s ability to discern reality from appearances, scientific certitude as distinguished from mere opinions; and, in the end, the capacity to bifurcate truth from falsity. As Pre-Socratic philosophy brought out the problems of an ever-changing world, with Heraclitus and Parmenides as two classic examples of the focus of inquiry, so the underlying and common thread remains even with us today: How, in an ever-changing universe, do we attain some semblance of static certainty?

Anxiety and stress during the development or waiting periods.

Medical conditions tend to bring to the fore a sudden change which is not merely problematic, but impacting upon all sectors and areas of one’s life. The quietude of the normal and mundane is suddenly turned upside down; that which we relied upon, and for which we worked so hard to achieve, are all suddenly in a state of disarray and disruption.

As certainty is the harbinger of security, so constant flux remains the loosened bolt which potentially unhinges such security. That is why, for Federal and Postal employees who are in the “development” stage of either preparing, formulating or in the process of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS or, in the long and arduous “waiting” stage in anticipation of a decision to be rendered by OPM, a constant sense of anxiety and angst prevails, precisely because the lack of certitude in bringing about stability is presently ever-pervasive in one’s thoughts. Perspectives are important in the quest for truth.

Both Plato and Aristotle recognized the subjective factor of perceptual idiosyncrasies amongst species.  Development of a case for Federal and Postal Workers who are filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, will continue to remain in a state of flux, uncertainty, and insecurity. And like the metaphorical river into which Heraclitus walks, revealing the constancy of change and stream of flux, until a decision is rendered by OPM, life remains a metaphor for development into the unknown.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement: Taking Advantage of the Long Wait

Preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS should not be viewed as a singular event with a distinct and bifurcating cut-off date, where once the medical documentation has been filed with the Office of Personnel Management, it is merely a long process of inactivity in waiting.  

The circumstances at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management have obviously changed.  A few years ago, the expected “wait-time” once a CSA number was assigned to a case, was approximately 60 – 90 days.  That period of waiting has now been extended, and extended considerably, for reasons which the Office of Personnel Management have cited as a “backlog of cases”.  

Because of those changed circumstances, it is wise to take advantage of the wait period by recognizing and bringing together various elements of a Federal Disability Retirement case:  since one’s medical condition must last a minimum of 12 months, and because the waiting time with OPM has been extended, it is probably a good idea to continue to “supplement” the medical records with the Office of Personnel Management, by forwarding, faxing, mailing, etc., any updated medical records, treatment notes, office notes, surgical operative notes; clinical examination records; any functional capacity evaluations, etc.  

Any medical notations which show the continuing care, treatment and inability to perform the essential elements of one’s job, will only reinforce and strengthen the argument that (A) one has a medical condition such that one cannot perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, and (2) that as a continuing medical condition, it is not only lasting a minimum of 12 months, but is factually a chronic and continuing medical condition.

 Take advantage of the longer wait period, by actively engaging in the management of one’s Federal Disability Retirement application.  

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire