Disability Retirement for Federal Workers: Natural Pairs

Shoes come in pairs; gloves, eye glasses, slippers and shoelaces. Obviously, products are manufactured to fit the need, and the loss of one of the pairs often requires the purchase of replacement for both, precisely because it is difficult to locate a store which will sell you only one of the replacement pairings.

Other couplings may not be as easily identifiable, but nevertheless tend to be related; for example, “stress” if often paired with “anxiety“, and a hostile work environment is tied to both stress and anxiety.  Though we may not refer to such related concepts in the manner similar to a pair of gloves (one doesn’t hear the term, “the pair of stress and anxiety”), the combination coincides precisely because of the inherent nature of similitude.

Perhaps it is more appropriate to speak in terms of a tripartite concept: of a hostile work environment, increasing the level of stress, and resulting in the medical condition of exacerbated anxiety. Or, perhaps a tetralogy of a compound concept: a hostile work environment; stress; anxiety; a medical condition. Or are the latter two so interrelated and therefore count as one, as “anxiety” is a “medical condition”, and so we should revert back to the tripartite category? For, it is certainly the case that when a medical condition enters the workforce, there is too often an increase in workplace hostility, resulting in greater quantification of stress, and the consequence of exacerbation of anxieties, which further compounds the complications of medical conditions, which…

So, perhaps the proper and more appropriate conceptual identification involves a somewhat vicious circle of cause-to-effect, effect-to-cause? Whatever the technically precise categorization of conceptual identification, for the Federal or Postal employee who suffers from a medical condition, such that the medical condition prevents one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s positional duties, one thing is clear: all such concepts are interrelated, connected, intersecting in conceptual constructs, and compounded in complexities of human behavior.

Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether under FERS or CSRS, submitted through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management for consideration, is an option which should be considered by the Federal and Postal Worker, if one wants to entertain a viable alternative to remaining in that vicious cycle of medical condition, stress, hostile work environment, anxiety…

The pairing of conceptual constructs is a reality in the world which is not mere linguistic play; the medical condition is real; the world of work is often harsh; stress is a silent but true killer; and anxiety is not just a passing phase in one’s life. No, it is not the pairings which are unnatural; rather, it is artificial nature of how we cover up the reality of such pairings, which makes for sadness in this world.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal Gov. and USPS Disability Retirement: The Morning After

The next day always comes; regardless of the anticipatory delay in accepting the harsh reality of the coming days and months after the celebratory pause allowed through an event, a holiday or the respite of a weekend, the morning after always follows, and the reality of facing the inevitability of that which was and is, delayed perhaps for a moment and a glorious interlude, a certainty of subsequent coming.

So the treadmill begins again; the daily grind must be faced; the trauma experienced the day before must now be encountered anew the day after.

Holidays are great periods of quietude and temporary suspensions of reality, but when the presents are all opened and the guests have all left, the reality of facing one’s daily life must be refreshingly embraced.  For Federal and Postal workers who experience a medical condition, such that the medical condition impacts the ability to perform all of the essential elements of one’s job, consideration needs to be given for Disability Retirement — which provides a longer respite and the needed period of recuperative relief in order to attend to one’s medical conditions.

Delay for a period works for that period; procrastination in order to celebrate an event or a holiday is often a necessary interlude; but in the end, the Federal or Postal worker who must file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether under FERS or CSRS, through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, must make some serious decisions and consider the impending consequences, beginning on the day after, and sometimes even the morning after.

For the Federal or Postal Worker who faces a medical condition such that the medical condition prevents one from performing the essential elements of one’s job, it is always the morning after which is the critical period.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Medical Retirement Benefits for US Government Employees: The Holidays

The “holidays” — or any respite from the daily treadmill of the repetitive reality of daily living — brings about realizations and gestalt moments of insight, precisely because such moments provide for opportunities of thoughtful reflection.

The modern approach of engaging in conversations and discussion for purposes of “value clarifications” became necessary when a tension occurred within society; where new ideas began to question and challenge the old; when habitual engagements of societal values, ethics and mores began to be undermined by revolutionary approaches, technological advances, and unrestrained actions by youthful movements of protestations and revolts.  Similarly, when time and opportunity allows for reflection and contemplation, certain realizations begin to surface.

For Federal and Postal employees who have been suffering from various medical conditions, whether chronic physical pain which limits movement, flexion and unsustainable capabilities of endurance; or psychiatric conditions which impact focus, concentration, and the ability to engage in cognitive-intensive work; the time of the “holidays” can be a challenge, where it provides for an opportunity to take some time off to rest those tired bones; but also a time of reflection to recognize and realize that one cannot remain on the same treadmill forever.

Federal Disability Retirement is an option which needs to be considered, precisely because it is not an “opting out of life”.  Rather, it is a means of downsizing, recognizing that one’s medical condition is preventing one from performing the essential elements of one’s job, and to seek a change of venue for the future.

The “holidays” are indeed a time for reflection; but reflection, if allowed without subsequent action, is an impotent moment of self-realization.  Be a rebel; grab the opportunity if presented.  That is what the holidays are ultimately for — to reflect and change course.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

OPM Disability Retirement: Awareness after a Respite

Memorial Day weekend, like other extended weekends, provide for a temporary respite, where an interval and delay from returning to work provides for some relief in order to recuperate.  Yet, for those Federal and Postal employees contemplating filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under CSRS or FERS, the temporary nature of the respite becomes apparent as there is an increasingly shortened period of return, such that the ratio between “rest” and “benefits of rest” become increasingly and progressively disproportionate.  

As one’s chronic and intractable medical conditions require a greater amount of rest, the benefits returned as a result of such rest become less and less apparent.  Federal Disability Retirement is a benefit which is available to all Federal and Postal employees who prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he or she is no longer able to perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s job.  

One must prove one’s eligibility, and to that extent, it is not an “entitlement” but a benefit that must be accessed.  If the benefit and rate of return through rest on weekends and evenings becomes disproportionately and exponentially overshadowed by the need for such times of respite because of one’s medical conditions, then it may be time to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS.  

It is precisely why the benefit is available — in order for the Federal or Postal employee to obtain the benefit which will be most beneficial of all:  an extended period of time for recuperation, commonly known as “rest”.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire