CSRS & FERS Medical Disability Retirement: The Consequence of Complexity

The level of complexity of an issue often has a direct relationship to the consequences involving initiation, action, quality of work and completion of task.  Many have a general rule concerning work, where the most complex of cases will be “taken on” first thing in the morning, when one’s energy is at its peak and a good night’s sleep has resulted in clarity of mind and acuity of concentration; more often than not, however, the greater the level of complexity, the more likely that procrastination and delay will dictate the timing of the task.

The consequences of delay, especially in a Federal Disability Retirement application, whether under FERS or CSRS, is that the problems which are at the core of the medical issue begin to slowly and progressively, exponentially expand, with reverberating ripples of irreparable impact — at work, in one’s personal life, with family relationships, etc.

In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, one of the first things which many Federal and Postal Workers recognize about the entire administrative process, is the complexity of the procedural and substantive laws governing Federal Disability Retirement issues.  It is not merely a matter of “filling out the forms“; how one says things matters; what one includes in a Federal Disability Retirement case may determine the outcome of the application; when one acts upon certain specific issues may have serious consequences, etc.  But complexity alone should not be the determinative factor as to procrastination or an unwillingness to move forward on the process.

Delay merely exacerbates a condition, and temporarily sets aside for a day the inevitable roar of a consequence which must be revisited the next day, or the day after.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Postal and Federal Disability Retirement: The Decision to Act

Often, the most difficult decision to make is the decision to act itself.  Where careers are about to end; where financial impact and unforeseen consequences (as Adam Smith once stated) may ensue; where deteriorating professional and personal relationships have progressively exploded; the daily stresses of the modern world refuse to provide for the necessary time often needed to recuperate, become rehabilitated, and slowly heal from a chronic and intractable medical condition.  For, that is often what is needed — time.  Medical conditions are peculiar events; surgery, medication regimens, therapy (physical or cognitive), require that one ingredient which the modern world cannot provide — time.  

For Federal and Postal employees who are suffering from a medical condition which lasts for a minimum of 12 months, there is the option of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS.  While there is certainly a formidable “pay in cut” (Federal Disability Retirement benefits provide an annuity of 60% of the average of one’s highest 3 consecutive years of pay for the first year, then 40% every year thereafter), what the disability annuity does provide for is the time for rehabilitative recuperation, whether physical, cognitive or psychiatric.  

In deciding the avenue of preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS, often the most difficult decision to make is the decision to act.  Once that major “life-decision” is made, the mechanical aspects of acting will naturally fall into place.  It is the act of deciding which is the first act of all; thereafter, the play will naturally proceed.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire