Federal & Postal Disability Retirement: The Chasm Between Sanity and Twilight

Sometimes, there are moments of clarity where one is left with wonderment at the behavioral folly of individuals, organizations, and groups of collective consciousnesses (what an untenable word — the pluralization of that which ends in what appears to be the plural form of the noun).  Whether one agrees with the Supreme Court’s holding that corporations should be treated as “persons”, the fact is that organizations act in collective aggregates in similar manners as individuals and amoebas.

Group-think, herd mentality and symbiotic consciousness of behavior is not unfamiliar to us all; for Federal and Postal employees who suffer from an injury or disability, and where the medical condition leads the Federal employee or the U.S. Postal worker to file for Federal/Postal Medical Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether that Federal worker or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, it is a fairly routine matter that engagement with one’s agency can be characterized as one of workplace hostility, unpleasantness or unfriendly separation.

Why this is so; what bonds of loyalty become severed merely because the Federal or Postal employee expresses an intent to terminate the employment relationship as a consequence of the onset and intervention of a injury or chronic condition; and how the contextual animosity develops into a flashpoint where the Federal agency or the U.S. Postal Service believes that it must initiate adverse actions or punitive measures; these are all wrapped up within the conundrum of complexities which characterize the human condition, and that is why organizations and organic aggregates of individuals comprise a compendium of human behavior.

It is, in the end, an unexplained and incomprehensible phenomena; what it is; how it can be explained; where one goes to for enlightenment; these questions must be relegated to the dark corners of behavioral recesses within those chasms between sanity and twilight.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal & Postal Disability Retirement: It’s a Dog’s Life

Animals are entities we encounter as subjects in a world of objects, but with whom we can have relationships and interactions beyond mere utility; the affection of a dog or similar pet, their importance in one’s life — these are beyond measurable quantification of significance.  But there is a difference in the “other” species; of the immediacy of need, the lack of concern for tomorrow, and happiness determined by thoughts of future occurrences or predicted circumstances.

Looking for trouble (don’t try this at home … these puppies are trained professionals).

That difference is often what determines the linear intractability of human anxiety, as opposed to the fullness of joy seen in a dog or a cat.  Dogs are happy because they are; the present immediacy of their satisfied lives is contained within the existential presence of the here and now.  Worries about tomorrow, or next year; how will we get on with life? What is the meaning of…   These are not tangible concerns which dogs and cats, or other similar species, concern themselves with.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition prevents one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, those anxiety-filled question impacting future security come to the fore, and begin to haunt.  But that life could be like that of a dog; yet, on the other hand, one need only visit the many animal rescue facilities to conclude that a dog’s life is not always a metaphor for endless joy.

After a long day terrifying JWs, girl scouts and mail carriers, this puppy needs a nap. (This model is the nephew of a former Postal employee and client).

For the Federal or Postal worker, filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether one is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, should have some weight of relief as an option for the future.

It is, after all, a benefit which is part of one’s employment and compensation package, but one which is often not emphasized at the initial stages of one’s career.  It provides for an annuity while allowing for employment outside of the Federal Sector, within certain guidelines and limitations.

During a time of medical need, the priority of concerns should always be:  attend to one’s medical conditions; get through each day to the best extent possible; secure one’s future, including filing for OPM Disability Retirement benefits if one is a Federal employee or a U.S. Postal worker, as soon as the need becomes known.

For the Federal and Postal worker, such priority of circumstances is what determines the present and future happiness of one’s existence; for the dog, it is the second of the three which matters, but then, as long as the meal is served, and the after-dinner treat is offered, the wagging tail tells the tale of contentment at the end of a long day’s journey.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal & Postal Medical Retirement through the OPM: The House of Doom, with a Spare Room

Psychiatric conditions and early medical retirement in the Federal Government workplace or the U.S. Postal Service (USPS)

The inescapable tangles and chains of oblivion are often those dark recesses within one’s psyche; Houdini merely performed to the public the capacity and ability to escape physical constraints; the greater challenge for most continues in the deterioration of the psychology of despondency.

Whatever the paradigm of modern medicine bases its treatment approach, whether on an organic component, subconscious repression of childhood trauma, the spectrum of tolerances unique to each individual; or perhaps a combination of neurological origins and excessive overload upon synapses and brain circuitry; whatever the myth of origins may be embraced, the reality of psychiatric conditions must be acknowledged.

Fortunately, for Federal and Postal employees who are considering preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, the good news (as such information can be deemed “good”) is that psychiatric-based medical disabilities (including, but not limited to, Major Depression, Anxiety, Panic Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, components of paranoia, suicidal ideations, etc.) are not analyzed, approached, evaluated, or otherwise decided upon in a way or manner different than physical ailments.

More than a decade ago, the concern may have found some reality of support in bifurcating the distinction between physical and psychiatric conditions; but with more recent judicial clarifications undermining any conceptual and legal distinctions previously made by OPM concerning “objective” medical evidence as opposed to “subjective” declarations of such conditions, the walls separating psychiatric and physical medical conditions have crumbled to nothingness.

Today, it is more likely that it is the individual, and not the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, who remains the singular obstacle to proceeding with an OPM Disability Retirement application. For, within the hellish confines of one’s psyche, men and women create a House of Doom — that cage of insular fears within the deep recesses of one’s mind, full of anxiety and self-doubt, compounded by submitting to an artifice further complicated by the lack of support from the Federal or Postal workplace; but what must be done is to acknowledge and recognize the existence of that House of Doom, and to make certain that within the labyrinth of madness, one must construct a spare room, where exit and escape allows for a reserve of quietude, and where the soft winds of time bending the hollow reed of rye echoes with a future peace in the whistling tune of hope.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire