Federal Disability Retirement: Peripheral Vision

Something catches one’s notice; perhaps an odd movement, a dotted color scheme of minute origins and insignificant except in contrast to the toneless surroundings; or, because of a survival instinct still active from a forgotten history of evolutionary need, a signal of caution that danger may be lurking.  The eyes shift; the attempt to focus upon that which was noticed through one’s peripheral vision, is suddenly lost forever.

No matter how hard you try and focus upon that which seemed perceptually evident, but somewhat indistinct, where one’s peripheral vision caught a moment of certainty, but now the direct visual assault is unable to locate that which existed outside of the parameters of the obvious.  As much in life is an anomaly which can only be adequately cloaked in metaphors and analogies in order to reach a semblance of understanding and comprehension, so the loss of that which existed on the edge of perception can never be understood, where directness fails to hit the target, but indirectness does.

Much of life is like that; we think we have it all solved, or under control, when suddenly chaos and the abyss of timeless disruption overtakes us.  Medical conditions have a tendency to do that.  It is, to a great extent, a reminder that our souls are not the property of our own selves, but only on borrowed time, to be preserved and valued through a course of time within a boxed eternity of complex circumstances.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal Service workers, when a medical condition hits upon the very soul of one’s being, and begins to prevent one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s ability to perform the positional duties of the Federal or Postal job, consideration should be given to filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether one is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset.

The beauty of life can be missed entirely if the focus is always upon the directness of existence; sometimes, we lose sight of the obvious when we fail to prioritize and organize the conceptual constructs given to us in a world of color, light and blazing conundrums of caricatures.  A medical condition is a trauma upon the body, mind and soul; continuing in the same directed assault upon life, without pausing to change course, is the worst path one can take.

Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits is an option which allows for reduced stress, potential future security, and time acquired in order to attain a plateau of rehabilitative peace.  It is a benefit offered to all Federal and Postal employees who have met the minimum requirements of Federal Service. That once forgotten art of perceiving beauty in a world of concrete and ugly structures of septic silliness; it is often the peripheral vision which catches a glimpse of life, and not the monotony of mindless work forging ahead in a blind alley of repetition.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal and Postal Disability Retirement: Process versus Substance

The emphasis and magnified focus upon process-issues as opposed to the underlying substance of an endeavor is often misplaced; yet, the problem is, if one ignores the former, the latter may never reach fruition because it may never arrive at its intended destination.  The question of balance between the two is an important one; for, the greatest of ideas may have historically vanished not because the idea itself was one lacking in value, but rather because it never received the sales pitch which effectively presented itself into the stream of commerce.

Similarly, in a Federal Disability Retirement application, whether under FERS or CSRS, through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, while it is important to understand the administrative process of the “nuts and bolts” of filing (i.e., who does it go to; which form is completed by whom; how long does it take at point X; what happens after destination Y, etc.), it is preliminarily of relevance to get the substance of the application in order (i.e., the proper medical report with all of the essential elements in place; one’s statement of disability which addresses the issues of concern to OPM; any legal arguments and invocation of precedent-setting arguments, etc.).

Process gets us there; substance is the “that” which gets there.  If there is no “that”, it will be no use for the “there”; and, conversely, if it never gets there, it will not make a difference.  Ultimately, however, while both are of importance, it is the substance of the case which makes the difference, and the focus should be upon that substance before one’s attention is placed upon the vehicle of delivery.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

OPM Disability Retirement: Intersection of the Applicant’s Statement and the Medical Documentation

In preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS with the Office of Personnel Management, one should not expect to compensate for the lack of medical conclusions in the Applicant’s Statement of Disability (Standard Form 3112A).  

By this is meant the following:  While the Applicant’s Statement of Disability should certainly be an “extension” of the medical documentation submitted, in terms of describing the identified medical conditions, the subjective delineation of pain, symptomatologies experienced, the extent and severity of the subjective experience which only the individual who suffers from the medical condition can properly describe; nevertheless, it should be just that — an extension — and not a means in which to compensate for the obvious (or sometimes not so obvious) lack of findings in the medical reports.

Pain and other subjective experiences are by definition personal to the Federal or Postal employee who “owns” the medical condition, and indeed, the case laws decided by the Merit Systems Protection Board (and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals) clearly declare the relevance and proper weight in considering the subjective statements of the Federal or Postal applicant who is filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.  

That being said, the medical documentation, including the office/doctor’s notes, etc., along with the medical narrative report which has been submitted as part of the Federal Disability Retirement application, should stand alone with sufficiency and unequivocal confirmation of the medical condition suffered, the symptoms noted, and the nexus created between one’s medical condition and the type of positional duties one is required to perform.  

The Applicant’s Statement, on the other hand, should be an expansion from the point of reference of the medical report, and describe the experiential impact of the medical condition upon one’s job, upon one’s personal life, etc.  Together, they represent two sides of a single coin — but the coin does have two sides, and one side cannot “make up” for any lack revealed on the other side.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire