Disability Retirement for Federal Government Employees: The Healing of Time

Time is a peculiar phenomena; if it is based upon the movement of objects or thought, then the entity oblivious to one’s surroundings remains unaffected.  For the human animal, the reliance is based upon a societal norm of sequential and linear movement, with multiple tracking devices including mechanical and digital clocks, watches, etc.

Does time heal?  When one is in the midst of a crisis or calamity, one rarely thinks of the extension or duration of one’s focus upon the dimension and context of one’s condition; but afterwards, in retrospect, it is often a period characterized by blurred and obscured images in the mind of one’s subconscious eye.

For the Federal and Postal employee who is suffering from a medical condition, such that the medical condition is impacting the ability to pursue one’s chosen career, time often becomes an enemy and adversary; for, the agony of time in the office or in the field; the time away from one’s office to attend to one’s medical conditions; the “time” it takes to accomplish tasks previously done without thought; and the time it requires to recuperate from the exhaustive efforts to continue in one’s job.

Federal Disability Retirement is a benefit which must be submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, for those Federal and Postal employees under FERS or CSRS.  If time has become an adversary, it may be the appropriate moment to consider filing for OPM Federal Disability Retirement benefits.

As for whether time ever heals; it is perhaps the memories which fade, and the intrusion of life’s everyday busyness which forces former issues of importance to fade over time; but in the end, it is not time which heals, but the imposition of future challenges which rearranges the priorities of our lives, to rescue us from our own ruminations of ruin.

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

FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement for Federal and USPS Workers: The Respite

Then there is the story of the office worker who was called in to discuss certain matters with the boss, and during the course of the conversation, boasted proudly that he had not taken a vacation in five years, thereby intimating his commitment and dedication to the company.

The boss became silent, shook his head gravely, and promptly fired the man on the spot.  In shock and dismay, the young office worker asked in exasperation why the boss would do such a thing, and the older man replied:  “Two reasons.  First, you need a vacation.  Now you have one.  Second, the company cannot afford to keep someone who fails to understand the needs of a human being.”  And so the irony of the young office worker reveals the self-contradiction of so many circumstances.

For the Federal and Postal Worker who suffers from a medical condition, the one truism which stands out is that those who are beset with a progressively deteriorating medical condition, can never take a “vacation” from the condition itself.  Thus, for those who are healthy, we often take for granted our state of existence.

Federal Disability Retirement from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, allows for the Federal or Postal Worker to have a period of respite, away from those very work activities which continue to exacerbate and compound the problem of the medical condition itself.

It may be that, in the end, there is little or no choice in the matter.

For, either the work will continue to suffer and the Federal agency or Postal Service will terminate the Federal or Postal worker, or the medical condition itself will dictate the terms of work cessation.  In either event, thought should be given to the future, and to a time of recuperative distancing from an activity which cannot continue forever.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire