FERS Medical Retirement: Labor Day — 2022

It is the last hurrah; the demarcation before the race begins — of the true starting point as well as the finish line.  The end of lazy days in summer; the beginning of the long slosh of working days until – Thanksgiving?

Historically, it is the day set aside to celebrate and honor the achievements of the American Labor Movement — that antiquated time when workers demanded and gained “rights” and privileges.  Unfettered capitalism required something more than flowery words and good intentions; safety on the workplace floor was not always taken for granted, and when children were put to work and deprived of a childhood, the need for a “labor movement” was spurred into existence.

History does not reflect a time past where good hearted people with a conscience voluntarily provided a “living wage”, or cared about safety and the protection of the worker, or out of a social conscience provided for healthcare, days off to spend with families, restricted the number of hours required to work, etc.

Instead, the long and inglorious history of the Industrial Revolution is replete with poverty-induced wages, unsafe working conditions and uncaring industrialists striving to squeeze every penny out of exhausted and overworked employees.  In this modern age, we have been persuaded that those “olden days” of predatory industrialists wouldn’t/couldn’t possibly return; but any study and knowledge of human history would betray such a notion.

The American Labor Movement was a necessary component of human progress; it is relevant today, just as it was in past times.  The fact that the American Worker can have a 3-day weekend and enjoy family, friends, a neighborhood barbecue — or just to sleep in for a change — is a testament to that celebratory day we love and cherish:  Labor Day, September 5th, 2022.

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.

Postal and Federal Employee Disability Retirement: Seasons

Breaking the vicious cycle of mental and physical disabilities in the Federal Government workplace and in the U.S. Postal Service

It is a self-evident statement, a tautology of sorts, that seasons come and go; for, by definition (and thus an allegedly a priori statement), a season is that which had something preceding it, changed, and will alter its course into a future one, in a cyclical fashion of interminable regularity.  It is the effects upon individuals which often fail to change, as people are not subject to the universal principles of the physical world in the same way as planetary systems and nature’s repetitive elements.

Thus do we include artificial “seasons”, as in the holiday seasons, and wonder why misery and exacerbation of health conditions become magnified during such times.  One is “supposed” to be merry during this time; peace and joy are offered as salutations throughout, as if they are laws of the physical universe; and somehow, if one’s emotional content does not match with the requirements of the season, the sense of guilt pervades and overwhelms.  It is as if we throw a rock into the air, and expect that it will not fall back down to earth; we expect much, and too much, of ourselves and others.

Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, often “feel” the weight of the seasons.  But for them, the change from one into the other is less a difference of degree, and more of substantive loss of rhythmic circularity in a physical world which continues on its rotational axis without caring for the individual.

Federal Disability Retirement is a benefit offered to all Federal and Postal employees who are under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, and allows for the Federal and Postal employee to attain an optional exit from the very circumstances and environment which forces the season of dismay upon the Federal or Postal worker who is beset with a medical condition such that the medical condition prevents one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job.  It is filed through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

While it may not release one from the rotational mandates of seasonal imposition, it does allow one to entertain a different future, and one which conveys a sense of hope for the season beyond, and a brighter Spring of one’s life.

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

CSRS & FERS Medical Disability Retirement: Negation within an Insular Universe

Real ghosts exist in the minds of those who remember.  It is the negation within a man’s mind; the presence of someone or some entity which is retained in memory, which is negated in the objective, physical world, but whose image continues to haunt us precisely because of the ability to remember, which allows us to perceive ghosts in a universe which otherwise fails to recognize them.

When the last Civil War veteran died, the ghosts of that event disappeared.  When the final WWII veteran departs in peace, the screams at Normandy will have quieted.  For the rest of us in the physical universe, it is only the momentary manifestation through a tear drop making its way down the subtle canals of aging creases on a person’s face, which allows for us to make contact within that insular world of memories.

For the Federal or Postal Worker who suffers from a medical condition, such that the medical condition prevents him or her from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, it is often a hidden pain deliberately concealed; or a psychiatric condition which manifests itself in emotional immobility; but it is merely through performance and other indicia by which we gauge whether something is amiss or not.

Whether one’s coworkers or supervisors believe in the ghosts haunting the Federal or Postal Worker is besides the point; taking care of one’s medical condition is and should be foremost, and filing for FERS Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is a step which often must be taken in order to pursue a rehabilitative path for one’s future.

The negation which one experiences — of that which no longer is — because of one’s medical condition, is real enough; concealing it will only further harm and haunt, and preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits is often the first positive step in expunging the ghosts which haunt one’s life.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

FERS & CSRS Medical Disability Retirement: The Leisure of a Painless Life

For Federal and Postal employees suffering from a chronic medical condition which impacts one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, the times of “leisure” have little or no meaning.

Leisure implies the ability to enjoy a world apart from the everyday world of work and worry; it is a short respite from the treadmill of life, obligations and duties, which we all have.  The “Holidays” are also such a period; a time to set aside in order to attend to those meaningful compartments of personal relationships, family ties, and friendships once formed, lessened over time, and fractured through life’s daily struggles.

For the Federal or Postal employee who suffers from a medical condition, whether physical, psychiatric, emotional — or a combination of a compendium of all three — “leisure” is a foreign concept precisely because the escape into a surreal world of pausing the anxieties of the universe cannot ever be achieved.  Such a point in life indicates the necessity of considering Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, precisely because the escape-hatch is a human need.

The deterioration and progressive pounding of a medical condition which impacts the Federal or Postal employee’s ability to perform all of the essential elements of one’s job, is a red-light indicator.  Listen to it; as leisure is a world of solace, so the medical condition is a voice which shouts for a change.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Medical Retirement Benefits for US Government Employees: The Holidays

The “holidays” — or any respite from the daily treadmill of the repetitive reality of daily living — brings about realizations and gestalt moments of insight, precisely because such moments provide for opportunities of thoughtful reflection.

The modern approach of engaging in conversations and discussion for purposes of “value clarifications” became necessary when a tension occurred within society; where new ideas began to question and challenge the old; when habitual engagements of societal values, ethics and mores began to be undermined by revolutionary approaches, technological advances, and unrestrained actions by youthful movements of protestations and revolts.  Similarly, when time and opportunity allows for reflection and contemplation, certain realizations begin to surface.

For Federal and Postal employees who have been suffering from various medical conditions, whether chronic physical pain which limits movement, flexion and unsustainable capabilities of endurance; or psychiatric conditions which impact focus, concentration, and the ability to engage in cognitive-intensive work; the time of the “holidays” can be a challenge, where it provides for an opportunity to take some time off to rest those tired bones; but also a time of reflection to recognize and realize that one cannot remain on the same treadmill forever.

Federal Disability Retirement is an option which needs to be considered, precisely because it is not an “opting out of life”.  Rather, it is a means of downsizing, recognizing that one’s medical condition is preventing one from performing the essential elements of one’s job, and to seek a change of venue for the future.

The “holidays” are indeed a time for reflection; but reflection, if allowed without subsequent action, is an impotent moment of self-realization.  Be a rebel; grab the opportunity if presented.  That is what the holidays are ultimately for — to reflect and change course.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal Disability Retirement: “And the Holidays Are For…”

And the holidays are for (in sequential order):  Celebration of an event; time away from one’s daily routine in order to revitalize one’s health, both mental and physical; enjoyment in the company of one’s family, friends, neighbors, etc.; time to pursue other interests and diversionary delights; and secondary reasons which are just as valid as the primary ones, with the order of priority interchangeably reflecting the time, age and life-phase of each individual.

The one factor which almost always invalidates the previous statement, however, is a medical condition which is chronic, severe, progressively debilitating, and one which prevents one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job.

In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, that is one of the focal points of consideration for the Federal or Postal Employee — for, if a “day off” is merely another day to recuperate from the toil and degenerative crumbling of one’s health, where daily work is a struggle just to appear, and home is not where the warm hearth occupies the quietude of one’s life, but rather a place merely to pause in a linear continuum of a treadmill, where dread and anxiety are not conceptual constructs but daily realities; then, a “holiday” will not do.

It is time to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from OPM.  The old adage that life is too short to toil in a constancy of dread and despair is not just a pithy saying by French existentialists; it is a truism which must be confronted and constructively applied in one’s daily life.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Early Retirement for Disabled Federal Workers: Generalized Anxiety Disorder

It may seem antithetical to talk about the psychiatric condition of Generalized Anxiety Disorder in filing for Federal Disability Retirements benefits under CSRS or FERS, especially during the Holidays — but, in fact, the analogy with the high stress which many Federal and Postal workers feel because of Christmas, New Years & other holidays is especially relevant.  

Let me elaborate.  Such a time period as “The Holidays” in fact often brings greater stresses in a person’s life — for it is precisely a time when one is “supposed” to feel joyous, when in fact an individual’s internal, personal turmoil may contradict the outward appearance which one manifests.  Such a combination — of the high level of stress one is experiencing, at a particular time (the Holidays), may be considered a “situational” psychiatric condition, because (hopefully) it will subside once the time-period passes.

This is a good way to understand what distinguishes between a “situational disability” (which is disallowed in Federal Disability Retirement applications under either FERS or CSRS) and “non-situational disabilities” (which are viable medical conditions pervading all aspects of one’s life, regardless of time or situation).  

The Office of Personnel Management will often attempt to characterize the psychiatric condition of Generalize Anxiety Disorder as one of merely “situational occurrence” — i.e., of being particularized and categorized as occurring only within the confines of a particular department, a particular workplace situation, or a period of time when a specific supervisor or coworker is present (sort of like occurring during the Holidays).  But Generalized Anxiety Disorder, properly diagnosed by a treating physician, is rarely, if ever, situational, and in fact is a serious psychiatric condition which qualifies for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS.  

Do not let the Office of Personnel Management fool you; Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a viable psychiatric medical condition, especially if it pervades all aspects of your life, and it prevents you from performing one or more of the essential elements of your job as a Federal or Postal employee under either CSRS or FERS.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Medical Retirement for Federal Workers: Thanksgiving

In representing Federal and Postal employees for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS, one encounters multiple medical conditions, from the very severe and debilitating, to manageable but chronic conditions which impact one’s ability to perform the essential elements of one’s job.  

Such review of medical conditions and recognition of what many Federal and Postal employees must undergo, is often a humbling experience; for, while a lawyer’s job is to focus upon the legal aspects of a case, and to bifurcate one’s personal “feelings” as distinct from the legal issues, the antiseptic medical facts, and the ability to provide an objective, analytical view of all of the facts and circumstances — such conceptual bifurcation has its limits.  

Daily, Federal and Postal employees who suffer from various medical conditions must make difficult choices about their future, their career, and their work & personal obligations.  It is well to pause during this Thanksgiving to reflect upon the blessings that we have, as opposed to conditions which have resulted in the loss or reduction of that which we do not have.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal and Postal Service Disability Retirement: Psychiatric Disabilities & the Holidays

Christmas, New Years & the Holidays; psychiatric disabilities of Major Depression, Anxiety, panic attacks, and many others; the mixture of the two often create an admixture of conflicting emotions, enhancing and exacerbating the psychiatric disabilities.  Unfortunately, the “Holidays” are a time when stresses and anxieties are further exacerbated; we are all meant to be “happy” and in the “holiday spirit”, when in fact the gathering of friends, family and gift-giving exponentially emphasizes the medical conditions which people suffer from, especially psychiatric conditions.  For Federal and Postal employees considering filing for Federal Disability Retirement under FERS or CSRS, the “Holidays” should be a time of rest and reflection; to determine the course for the future; whether the future holds continuation of a long and productive career, and will it continue until the time of regular retirement, or is this the time to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement.  The “long-term view” must be taken; not to make a hasty decision because of the exacerbating circumstances of the Holidays; rather, to see beyond the holidays, and make the proper decision based upon an “objective perspective” of the “now”, as well as of the future.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire