OPM Medical Retirement Help: Luck and Chance

Is everything determined by it?  Has Darwinian evolution “proven” that when luck and chance happen to coalesce into the “perfect storm” of elements combining at just the opportune moment, that life can suddenly germinate and appear from nothingness?  Or, must there always be an efficient cause in order for even luck and chance to generate the first murmurings of movement’s chords?

In our lives, what encounters have occurred where, looking back, one must admit that “but for” that chance encounter, the very course of your life would never have taken the path untold?  Or of the lottery winner — was it meant to be?  Was there a purpose that the numbers chosen predestined the good fortune for this individual as opposed to someone else?

Does luck and chance favor the unfortunate soul, the one who prays more fervently, or even that person who “needs” it more?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition prevents the Federal or Postal employee from performing one or more of the essential elements of his or her job and positional duties, leaving the filing of a Federal Disability Retirement application to luck and chance is the wrong approach to take.

At the very least, you must “enhance” your chances and “front-load” your luck by preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under the  Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) — and the best way to do that is by contacting a Federal Disability Attorney who specializes in OPM Disability Retirement Law.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill
Lawyer exclusively representing Federal and Postal employees to secure their Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

 

OPM Disability Retirement: Happiness Only in Stories

Perhaps it is an unavoidable truism that such states of unmitigated joy can be found only in stories; of triumph over tragedy; of endings worthy of fairytales; and of innocence still untouched.  Life is a series of crisis, marked by momentary fragments of a respite well-deserved.

It is the story of human history, whether of private lives left untold within the tombs of unmarked graves or of biographies never written, and which became silent upon the demise of the family stories that were uttered only at gatherings and with the rhythmic rocking of chairs where porch lights were left on with the humming of mosquitoes and moths fluttering against the midnight air.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition and who need to file for FERS Disability Retirement benefits, the story which must be told is the response to the questions on OPM SF 3112A, Applicant’s Statement of Disability.  It is not one of happiness, but of turmoil and pain; but it is nevertheless a story which must be told.

Consult with a FERS Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and begin the process of filing for FERS Disability Retirement benefits, lest the happiness only in stories remains so while the pain of life counters the possibility of something more.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Federal Disability Retirement Lawyer

 

FERS Disability Retirement: Refutation of Stefan Zweig’s Essay

FERS OPM Medical Retirement: Refutation of Stefan Zweig’s Essay, “Books are the Gateway to the World”.

Not quite a refutation, but merely a protest — and perhaps a defense of illiteracy.  Zweig writes beautifully; persuasively; in colorful prose that captivates; in convincing form — if not in logical argumentation, but more as a poet who is convinced that words, books, literacy and the spread of the written word is indispensable to life itself.

He ends with this poetic flourish: “The more intimately the man associates with books the more profoundly he experiences the unity of life, for his personality is multiplied; he sees not only with his own eyes but with the countless eyes of the soul, and by their sublime help he travels with loving sympathy through the whole world.”

Who can argue with that?  Who can so poetically refute and rebut a sentence of such insightful beauty?  Yet, it is not with the argument for books and literacy that is objectionable, but rather, the notion that the man with whom he met and befriended but who is later found to be illiterate — that this rampage of sorrow and defense of literacy is at the expense of this unfortunate man.

Consider how he describes such a person: “He is walled in by himself, because he knows nothing of books; his life is dull, troglodytic (Definition: a “member of any of various peoples (as in antiquity) who lived or were reputed to live chiefly in caves” — i.e., “cavemen” or “cavewomen”).  And: “I was shocked to think how narrow the world must seem to the man who has no books.”

True, Zweig may have felt pity for his new-found friend, whom he previously described as a person who possessed a “genius for mimicry and caricatured everybody”, and whom he found fascinating and of enjoyable company — until, it turns out, that he discovered his illiteracy.

The essay ends without a conclusion; perhaps he took the time (without writing about it) with the friend and taught him how to read.  More likely, they went their separate ways — the other fellow pitied for the remainder of Zweig’s days, the author convinced that he was an individual to be pitied.  But that is the criticism to be posited, isn’t it?  That we make judgments without judging ourselves, and unjustifiably when we have the power to do something about the ills we encounter.

For Federal and Postal employees who have encountered that very circumstance — of facing judgments by others while nothing is being done — of a Federal Agency or the Postal Service that has determined that you are not worth “saving” because of a medical condition that now prevents you from performing one or more of the essential elements of your Federal or Postal job; it is then time to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.

Don’t wait around for help from your Agency or the Postal Service; it is likely that you will not receive it.  Instead, consult with a FERS Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law.  For, in the end, the decision to take the next step to “help yourself” will be up to you, and you should not consider the Federal Agency or the Postal Service to help you as your “friend” — leaving aside whether they will even feel a scintilla of pity for you; they won’t.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal & Postal Disability Retirement: Preparing the case

For some reason, Federal and Postal workers who “prepare” and submit a Federal Disability Retirement application, do so without much thought as to what is entailed by the entire process.

They will often rely upon what the “Human Resource Office” tells them — of forms to fill out, what form to give to the doctor, the form to give to the supervisor, etc., and will spend more time trying to figure out the confusing life insurance form than in preparing the Applicant’s Statement of Disability (SF 3112A) or the legal precedents that govern Federal Disability Retirement Law — and then, when it gets denied at the Initial Stage of the process and the Federal or Postal Disability Retirement applicant goes back to the H.R. “Specialist” and asks, “Well, what do I do now?”, the response is: “That is not our problem; that’s a problem you have to deal with.”

Accountability is not known to be a commonly recognized characteristic in a Human Resource Office, and while there are never any guarantees in life, in any sector or endeavor, at a minimum, when one is being “assisted” and guided through an administrative process, it is important to know whether or not whoever you are relying upon will see you through to the end.

Why the Federal or Postal employee who begins the process of preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application does so without the same care, scrutiny and comprehensive approach as one does in “other” legal cases, is a puzzle.

Federal Disability Retirement — whether under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset — is as complex a case as any other, and should be approached with the same intensity, technical application and expertise as a patent and trademark case, or a complicated medical malpractice filing.  For, a Federal Disability Retirement case involves every aspect of any other type of complex litigation — of the proper medical evidence to gather; of meeting the established legal standard in order to meet the burden of proof; of citing the relevant legal precedents in order to persuade the reviewer at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management; and presenting a compelling description to a “jury” at OPM that one has met the nexus between “having a medical condition” and the inconsistency inherent with the positional duties required, etc.

In the end, preparing the case for submission of a Federal Disability Retirement application involves greater complexity than what the layman can normally account for, and as the fine print in those television commercials state involving sporty vehicles maneuvering at high speeds, you may not want to try this on your own.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Employee Disability Information: Truth and Falsity

There is much discussion about the nature of truth and falsity in our world — if, indeed, shouting and counter-shouting constitutes discourse rising to the level of a “discussion”.  Whether there is Truth with a capital “T”; or are there various versions of multiple “truths”, where my truth is just as valid as your truth, and falsity as merely the negation of yours at the sacrificial behest of mine?

There are apparently “truths”, “alternative truths” and “parallel truths”, and perhaps all of them can “get along” and vie for the vaunted position of the lofty “Truth” with the capital “T”, so long as we all don’t roll upon the carpet with laughter within our bellies demeaning the statements made by various politicians claiming a corner of their truth as opposed to the truths that we all know to be true.

The truth is, Truth can take various forms, and it is the subtle distinctions that are lost in the inane discourse of modernity where relativism, lies, inaccuracies and the capacity to conflate and confuse have made it all “bosh”.

To begin with, there is a presumption of a truthful statement — otherwise, the entire concept of a “lie” would become meaningless.  Then, of course, there are statements of truth that are contextually relevant, as in the statement, “I am staying home today with my sick child.”  If such a statement were to be declared on another day, it may be an untruthful statement.  Furthermore, personal experiences attached to statements undermine the objectivity and universality of the utterance, as in the simple declarative, “I feel good today”.

The very concept of truth and falsity is much more complex than the simple and inane discussion that has developed from the recent discourse of truths, alternative truths and what constitutes factual statements, inaccurate ones or outright lies; but suffice it to say that most people can recognize the difference between truth and falsity, just as people know the difference between day and night even if there are shades of twilight and dawn.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition begins to prevent the Federal or Postal worker from performing one or more of the essential elements of his or her Federal or Postal job, the distinction between truth and falsity is represented by the stark reality of the medical condition itself, and may often determine the course of future actions yet to be contemplated.

The truth:  The medical condition is beginning to impact my ability to perform my job duties at work.  The falsity:  If I just ignore everything, it will all just go away and I will wake up from a bad dream.  And the subtle distinctions like the dawn of light or the quietude of twilight: Federal Disability Retirement is not something that I want to choose, but it is the best option available for my situation.

Sometimes, it is not the stark choice between Truth and Falsity that matters, but the option taken must take into account the contextual reality of what is —that is, if you can even know these days what the definition of “is” is.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Attorney Representation Federal Disability Retirement: The Farmer’s market

They are now in most localities, in communities throughout, cropping up like a movement that pervades imperceptibly in quiet amalgamations like forces that cannot be seen but are still known to exist.

Farmer’s markets represent the strength of a community, the support of a town and the reverting-back of a city, to a time where local farmers were important and the packaged foods that come from foreign countries and line up on the shelves of corporate supermarkets are rebuffed by “buying local” and “supporting the local farmer”.

There was once a time, some many decades ago, when every town went to the corner butcher to get the day’s cut of meat; when farmers grew crops for one’s own family, and for the community within the bird’s eye-view from the door of one’s house; when traveling to the next largest city, or even crossing a state-line, was a big enough deal to give kisses and hugs.

Then, someone “thought big” and believed that refrigeration, transportation in mass quantities first across state lines, then from one side of the country to the other, then from across the great seas – that, from such a grand idea, hunger and starvation would be a problem solved, and profits would soar and the world as a whole would be a better place to occupy.

The pendulum of history always swings back, however, as the movement upon corporate structures was countered with “bigger is not better” and resulting in the idea that the “small” community, the “local” foods and the backyard gardener represented the healthier choice of living.

Somehow, there is a spectrum that always seems to prevail, that arises from within the innate need of human nature: of wanting to grow larger when there is smallness, and wanting to harken back to smallness when one has grown too large.  Yet, in most instances, a compromise of sorts must be accepted; for, once the spectrum has run to one extreme, it is nigh impossible to recapture that which was lost.

That is often the problem for the Federal employee or the U.S. Postal worker who has “grown” in one’s career, advanced, received all of the deserved accolades, etc.  To become “small” again is difficult to accept.  Yet, when a medical condition begins to prevail upon the Federal or Postal employee, and it becomes impossible to perform all of the essential elements of the positional duties of the Federal or Postal job, the necessity of consider a Federal Disability Retirement becomes an inevitability.

What stops or pauses the Federal or Postal employee from initiating a Federal Disability Retirement application?  Often, it is that same psychology of having to resort back to “being small” – of downsizing, of “giving up.”  But always remember that one must prioritize one’s life, and without one’s health, there is no life to enjoy.

In the end, the Farmer’s Market is the ideal most of us strive for – of smallness that is manageable, with a healthy side to it of knowing where the food comes from; and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application is similar to visiting the local Farmer’s Market, where the accomplishments of life’s gifts are found most in the small things we cherish.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

PM Retirement for Mental or Physical Incapacity: Those goals

What constitutes a worthwhile goal?  Is it determined by the outcome – i.e., a retrospective, outcome-based proposal, as opposed to the gambling one where one must enter into the dangerous waters not knowing what the future provides?  Are we so safely ensconced in life’s predictability such that we will not longer accept as a goal that which cannot be ascertained unless and until there is some guarantee?

Do people immediately criticize and diminish the stated goal by categorizing it as either “realistic” or “unrealistic”?  Is there a distinction with a difference between “dreams” and “goals”, where the former is unbounded and unfettered by the reality of expectations, whereas the latter must be confined to that which can be reasonably ascertained as achievable?

What of the child who “dreams” of becoming a major league baseball player – do we cite the statistical odds against it, even at the tender age of 5?  What if the child works diligently and shows some promise – daily exercises, practices at every aspect of the game, and joins this league or that and shows “promise” and “potential” – at what point do we advise him (or her) to give up and “become realistic”?

Are some dreams okay to retain and have despite any semblance of “reality” intervening to make them come true – like secretly wanting to be a novelist (even though not a single page, let alone one sentence, has been put on paper) or a pro basketball player (even if you are 5’ 3”, and certainly no Muggsy Bogues), just because it makes one “feel good” or allow for self-confidence by carrying a secretive self-image that one is not what one truly appears to be?

At what point do dreams become goals, and goals merely dreams?  Is it when you actually take a “concrete” step towards making a dream become a reality, that then you have a goal, because the latter is “achievable” while the former is not?  Or is it like that old Chinese proverb that Kennedy liked to recite (or was becoming a writer for John F. Kennedy merely a “dream” and that is why Ted Sorensen, his ghost writer, is the one who did all the writing that the former President merely dreamed about?), that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step?

Or, perhaps like the Federal or Postal worker who suffers from a medical condition, such that the medical condition prevents the Federal or Postal worker from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s position with the Federal agency or the U.S. Postal Service, the goal is to become healthy again – or is it merely a dream?

Dream or goal, for the Federal or Postal worker trying to prepare an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to be reviewed and determined by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, like the potential baseball star or the best power forward in the business of pro basketball, the first step is the most important – of realizing dreams into goals, and goals into realistic dreams, whichever may be the case.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal & Postal Disability Retirement: Indicia by quantitative output

Should worth be determined by quota of quantitative output, or is the slow and steady progress of quality and craftsmanship still valued in this world of imported trinkets and trash bins of brevity?  There are reports of a major bankruptcy filing resulting in the inevitable liquidation of a foreign shipping company, and the rumors preceding have already forced stockpiling of goods for the upcoming holiday shopping expectations.

The interconnecting tentacles of international trade foregoes any differentiation these days, between “domestic” or “foreign” companies, and the deep reverberations and repercussions of shortages felt reveals and unravels of a society addicted to the notion of accumulation, no matter what or where the source.  We can no longer travel to destinations of quiet reserve, because everyone does so – with Smartphones and photographs instantly posted, and of the meditative monastery no longer devout with quietude of prayer, but filled with flashbulbs of visceral interruptions.  And of the unique product made with time and care?  Of hand-held tools and the carpenter’s reflective repose?

Quotas define modernity; it is the quantitative output that prevails in a factory-like universe where the individual stitching has no mark of uniqueness or character of identification.  Perhaps Marx had at least the principle of labor’s loss of meaning right; when the product loses the manifold entailment of the soul which guides the hands, then the character of creation is destroyed and the essence of the mold becomes subsumed beneath the greed of desire.

It is the celebrity-status and stature of glimmer and glamour which poses to characterize the indicia of success; and the goal of that flashpoint of destination’s pinnacle of “arriving” is determined by the indicia of quantitative output.  How else to explain the constant boast that Americans work longer hours, have less vacations, spend fewer time with family and friends – but to show the rest of the world who sit idly by with envy and despair, that the price to pay in order to attain the grand scheme of such blissful existence is to undermine the family structure, to desecrate the common hold of a community, and to destroy the very fabric of society’s worth?  We pay a price, all right, and that cost transacted is the self-destruction of the essence of humanity.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition no longer allows the Federal or Postal employee from performing one or more of the essential elements of the Federal or Postal employee’s positional duties, the pressure to keep up with the quantitative output comes to a flashpoint where health intersects with productivity, and the Federal agency or the U.S. Postal Service takes such data into account in deciding the worth of your life.

The indicia of quantitative output are the means by which the determining end is calculated.  At that critical juncture, the Federal or Postal employee must make a Solomon’s decision:  Health, or the job.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who have come to that point of decision-making, preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to be ultimately submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, becomes not just a necessity, but a call to action.  For, in the end, the indicia of quantitative output is someone else’s measure of worth – and that “someone else” is certainly not taking into account the value of one’s health in a society self-destructive in its juggernaut of purposeless regression.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Disability Benefits: The Salvageable Segment of the Soul

Even of the most craven of personhood, as they walk the disquieted corridors to the gallows of their fate, one continues to believe that redemption is possible; that there is some segment of the soul which allows for the relative unimportance of value, worth, forgiveness and continuing relevance in an otherwise impervious universe.

Most lives are lived without a grand master plan.  But that we could all devise and lay out the architect’s blueprint of proportioned drawings and apply it to one’s future, the very act of unrolling the scrolls of time would be accomplished with childlike anticipation for the sweetness of that which is hidden in the wrappers of one’s future.

Instead, the reality of life is that we bump into a career; we accidentally meet out life’s mate; we mistakenly decide upon a place to live; and we meander through our cusps of career choices and daily decisions forced upon us by life’s frenzy of busy-ness.   It is when a trauma befalls us, as the unshakeable foundation of security and repetitive monotony suddenly reveals a fissure of fragility, that we suddenly realize the need for a master plan.  Medical conditions tend to do that.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suddenly find that one’s career may be coming to an end because the medical condition prevents him or her from continuing in the same modality of life’s misgivings, consideration needs to be made for filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

This is where “planning” becomes necessary.

When a medical condition impacts one’s ability to perform all of the essential elements of one’s positional duties with the Federal agency or the U.S. Postal Service, there is often a sense that life is in a state of disarray, and the future clouded with bleakness.  But just as every craven soul must of necessity retain a segment of a salvageable hint, so the Federal or Postal employee whose career is cut prematurely short, should consider that there is still life to be lived beyond the compendium of life’s misgivings permeated by the coalescence of a career choice suddenly confounded by a medical condition.

Federal Disability Retirement through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management allows for the Federal or Postal employee to receive an annuity, then to go out and make a living in the private sector in another vocation.  Perhaps that second vocation will entertain a master plan, with the guiding light of that salvageable segment of the soul identified following a wrong turn down life’s maze of adventuresome avenues.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire