The Genotype-phenotype Distinction and Disability Retirement Benefits for Federal and Postal Employees

The distinction is important in the study of genetics, where the genotype represents the entirety of one’s hereditary information contained in one’s DNA, whereas the phenotype represents the manifestation of that genetic heredity received and retained by any given individual. In simple terms, it is the inner/outer distinction, or in Aristotelian terms, the substance/accident representation, or further, in Platonic characterization, the form/appearance description of the world. It provides for a fascinating study of the theory of evolution, the plasticity and adaptability of a species, and the capacity of survivability within the greater context of environmental pressures and influences.

For the Federal employee and the Postal worker who suffers from a medical condition, such that the medical condition begins to impact one’s ability/inability to perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s positional duties, the concept of the genotype-phenotype distinction is peripherally interesting to understand, in the following way: The internal struggles eviscerating one’s capacity to perform the Federal or Postal job, will sometimes remain unobtrusive and lacking of evidence by all appearances.

The “phenotype” of a Federal Disability Retirement case may be represented by good performance reviews, lack of awareness by one’s supervisor, and an agency which fails to recognize the struggling Federal or Postal employee. The “genotype” is often the “inner” struggle, characterized by profound fatigue (how does one quantify cumulative exhaustion?), chronic pain (if only pain were color-coded, where white is on the lower spectrum and red is at the extreme end), the where the Federal or Postal employee pushes one’s self to the limit of absurdity until one is ready to collapse in an effort to perform the essential functions of one’s job.

The problem of appearance-versus-substance, or that which is seen as opposed to the hidden reality of a thing, is not a new or unique one. In the context of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, however, whether the Federal employee is under FERS or CSRS, and whether the Postal worker is under FERS or CSRS, it is important to make clear and bring to the surface that which is unrevealed, and that will normally come about through generating an excellent medical report from one’s treating doctor.

Ultimately, a Federal Disability Retirement application is based upon the medical opinion of one’s treating doctor, and the “genotype” of an effective Federal Retirement application must comply with the requirements of the law, the criteria for eligibility, and the expression of that genotype into a coherent representation in the form of a “phenotype” in the preparation, formulation and submission of a Federal Disability application, though OPM, whether one is under FERS or CSRS.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal Disability Retirement Law: Leaving behind the Corybantic Dance Hall

Employment which fails to accommodate one’s disabling conditions is inherently and obviously detrimental to one’s health; when it exacerbates and further deteriorates, it is all the more time to consider parting ways.

Dancing is a medium of enjoyment and entertainment which is a passing cultural phenomena. The rhythm of two people in a constancy of coordinated steps and movements; the self-centered, egoistic age of the modern era denies the ability or capacity to engage in such in-tune embracing of efforts.

Ugliness, in contrast to the beauty of graceful dancing, is characterized by lack of coordination, stumbling, singularly separated movements lacking in attention to other motions; a self-centered continuum of disjointed gyrations. Agencies are like dance halls. Some are replete with coordinated rhythms of bodies moving, graceful in efficiency of stylistic constancy. Others reveal an ugliness and uncaring attitude, like two drunkards lost in worlds of self-pity and attending only to one’s selfish needs.

Federal employees, early in their careers, are invited to various dance halls, and the choices made may have changed over the years.  Perhaps the music has changed; there is a new DJ at the helm; or maybe the frenzied lack of gracefulness was less bothersome in one’s youth.  But at some point the dance hall itself, and the participants of such ugliness, have come to the fore, and it may just be time to leave it all behind.

Chronically ill Federal employees or injured 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, must sometimes leave behind the dance hall, the music, and the partners with whom one once danced.  Federal Disability Retirement is an option open at the exit door of the corybantic dance hall. It is an administrative process which is submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal employee or the U.S. Postal worker is under FERS or CSRS.

As time passes by, the frenzied antics of one’s youth may need to be left behind, and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through OPM may be a necessity in order to attain a level of calm and quietude, away from the dance hall which contributes, exacerbates, or exponentially quantifies one’s medical conditions which need attending to in order to consider any future at all.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire