FERS Disability Retirement Help: The Quagmire of Past

The balance between times is an important talent to garner, cultivate and help flourish; it is that lack of ability which doesn’t come naturally, but is a necessary tool for living a successful life.  We watch jugglers adeptly perform the feat of seemingly effortless magic — of a dozen balls twirling this way and that, making circles and loops as if in a continuum of timeless fluidity.

We have a past; we live in the present; we look to the future.  The past is based upon our memories and is no more; the present is the existential encounter with Being; the future is based upon our past memories projected into a time anticipated but not yet objectively “real”.

The quagmire of past is the failure to compartmentalize and store away with disciplined severity; the entrapment of the present is when a person allows for the appetitive, lower parts of the soul to dominate; and anxiety about the future comes about when we know that we are wasting our time either by dwelling too much upon the past, or in the manner of our present living.  In the end, the quagmire of past is often a difficulty which cannot be completely controlled, but governed and managed by how we live today.

For those who are employed with the Federal Government or the U.S. Postal Service who are suffering from a health condition but concurrently stuck in the quagmire of past because you cannot believe that you are no longer the same “you” of a decade ago, it may be time to focus upon the present circumstances and plan for a better future by preparing, formulating and filing for Federal or Postal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS, through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Contact a FERS Ret. Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and consider that the quagmire of past needs to be replaced with a hope for the future, and getting a Federal Disability Retirement annuity may be the best first step in the present circumstances to achieve that goal.

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.

 

Federal Disability Attorney Help: Loss

The metaphors are replete; the stories of human suffering, of the chasm which develops in one’s “heart”; of the emptiness driven by it; “loss” is the sudden absence of that — or of whom — we took the existence once for granted.  Perhaps it can be an object; or even a place; of a home or town now destroyed and no longer the same.

Displacement can be a form of loss, and indeed, one which can result in misery, disorientation and alienation.  Loss of a friend; of a family member; of years of taking it for granted that existence will continue today as it did yesterday, and the day before.  The irony is that the absence of that very existence is the thing which reminds one of the former presence.  Suddenly, you recall the pervasiveness of that former existence — “She used to always do X” or “He was always right over there”, etc.

Does time buffer the severity of present loss?  Do the memories fade, the daily routines change and adapt to the sudden non-existence such that, over a period of months and years, such absence which is noticeable currently will dissipate with fading memories and getting used to that absence which was so profoundly pronounced?

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 one’s Federal or Postal job, “loss” is a familiar concept: For, to begin with, the loss of one’s health is a profound recognition of an absence of one’s former self; further, the realization that Federal OPM Disability Retirement is a necessary next step is to seek a replacement for the loss of one’s career.

All of those many years, the “job” was a central activity — meaningful, significant, relevant — then, preparing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application to be submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under FERS is the next step towards embracing the non-existence of that former self.  The positive side of things, however, is that such a loss can be replaced by a future which prioritizes your health, and where the presence of a better tomorrow can fill that emptiness of yesterday’s loss.

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 Application: Worth in Our Day

Worth has become a meaningless concept; inflation, the valueless dollar, the expansion from millionaire to billionaire, and now to the next level — the first “trillionaire” — who will it be?

There was a time not long ago when aspiring to make or save a million dollars was within sight; that, once achieved, it was a level of monetary achievement which would allow for a fairly comfortable living.  These days, purchasing a home in a relatively middle class neighborhood ranges in the $600,000 – $700,000 range and beyond, rendering a million dollars to be viewed as somewhat of a pittance.

And what of human worth?  As money becomes meaningless because the decimal point continues to move to the right, leaving unfathomable zeros multiplying to the left, do we treat workers with any greater dignity, with any greater value in parallel conjunction with the exponential multiplication of those zeros?  Doubtful.

At least, however, the Federal Government does recognize that a person who is disabled from performing his or job elements should be eligible and entitled to disability retirement benefits.  To that extent, worth in our day has improved from the middle ages where the disabled were merely discarded as beggars on the streets of London and Paris, as well as in middle America.

Contact an OPM Disability Lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and consider the option of going out early with a Federal Disability Retirement benefit.

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.

 

Federal Disability Retirement: When Hiring a Lawyer

When hiring a lawyer or a law firm, what are your expectations and who are you hiring?  Are you hiring an “Intake Officer” (whatever they are); a paralegal; a legal assistant; a “Disability Specialist” (whatever THEY are) — or are you hiring a lawyer?  That is, a person who holds the law degree, who is entitled to practice law, and who is the knowledgeable “expert” in the field of Federal Disability Retirement Law?

How can you tell?  Do you know you are hiring a lawyer merely because someone tells you so?  Or, are these the indicators: When you make a call, the lawyer answers your call.  When you leave a message, the lawyer calls you back.  When you send an email, the lawyer responds.

Or: You always only speak to an “assistant”, and never to the lawyer; the “Disability Specialist” (again, what is a “Disability Specialist” — and what does it mean to be a “specialist”, especially if you aren’t a lawyer?) is always the one who seems to be handling your case; and what happens if your case get denied at the Initial Stage of the Federal Disability Retirement process, and then again at the Reconsideration Stage of the process — who will see you through at the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board?

When hiring a lawyer or a law firm, make sure that you are actually getting what you are paying for: An actual FERS Disability Retirement Lawyer who will guide you with his experience, wisdom and legal acumen.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Early Out for Federal Employees with Disabilities: Indicators

They are the flashing lights to warn others of actions about to be taken; or, they can be “clues” which allow for a preview of things yet to occur.  Retrospectively, we are all experts at identifying them; prospectively, many of us ignore or are otherwise oblivious to them, despite their obvious presence.

When we perform a forensic analysis in looking back, we will often realize that there were, indeed, many indicators which should have forewarned us of the impending troubles.  While no one likes to play Monday-night quarterbacking (actually, we all love doing it; we just like to pretend as to its involuntary necessity), such forensic analysis is a useful tool in apprising ourselves of the things which we missed.  But when an event in life occurs only once, or we only have one shot at something, no amount of retrospective analysis is going to be helpful.

Medical conditions have that characteristic — of indicators or signs which should have warned us of future problems, of which we dismissively ignored in hopes that the warnings — and the future substantive troubles — would simply go away.

Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS is also like that — while you have 3 Stages in order to get approved (the 4th Stage being an irrelevant one because there is no quorum on the MSPB Board), you normally only have this “one-shot” at obtaining an approval.  Because of this, it is important to consult with a FERS Disability Retirement Lawyer and make sure that all of the “indicators” are taken into account before you make that proverbial “right turn” into the future.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Employee Disability Retirement: Advice

The great thing about it is that everyone can give it and no one needs to accept it, let alone act upon it.

Old people think that they have much of it to dispense; young people think that the old people are full of it but don’t understand the world of today; and all the while, those in the middle generally remain silent until it’s too late, anyway, and walk about shaking their heads in disbelief, thinking that if only X had listened.  Parents try and give it in fear of mistakes being repeated from their own past histories; and bosses think with self-importance that the wisdom they disseminate is what brought them to their vaunted status to begin with.

Advice is there to be given; whether people take it is quite another matter.  Now, with modern technology and the Internet, there is more than a fair share — both good and bad.  The trick is to discern between the two extremes.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition prevents the Federal employee from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, the time to seek and take advice on matters central to Federal OPM Disability Retirement Law — of the process and procedure; of the substantive criteria which has to be met; of the gathering of all evidence necessary — is better sought as early as possible in the process.

Not all advice is equal.

Consult with an OPM Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and begin the process of seeking and applying advice which is crucial in obtain your Federal Disability Retirement benefits.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal & Postal Disability Retirement: A Wound Unhealed

They can remain hidden for a time.  If kept clean, it can even be contained.  If of a psychiatric nature, it will likely manifest itself under certain circumstances; and, of course, stress can play a major role in its exacerbation and magnification.  A wound unhealed can fester and worsen; and the deteriorating nature of its state of non-attendance can become chronic and debilitating.  A wound unhealed; it can be ignored for a time, concealed and even allowed to remain — at least for a limited period.  But then others begin to notice it; it becomes an interference; it continues to expand and intrude.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition — like a wound unhealed — such that the medical condition begins to interfere with one’s ability and capacity to perform all of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, it may be time to take the path of healing and consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.  Consult with a FERS Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and begin to attend to the growing, expanding condition that continues to gnaw and fester. The alternative is to continue to allow for it to remain unhealed, until that time when it becomes an emergency.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire