Disability Retirement from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Expunging the Chatter of Irrelevance

The bombardment of information is a constant and persistent drone; what constitutes newsworthy items, priority of information, and sifting through the quantitative morass of irrelevance, is a daily toil which requires expenditure of human stamina and sheer will power which grinds and depletes the soul of needed quietude.

This is a complex world.  The blare and glare of “relevant” information fights for our attention daily, if not every minute of each hour; if not every second and fraction thereof; and sometime in the recent past, the accepted bifurcation between news, entertainment, and personal opinion no longer followed the conventional pathway of self-evident declarations, and it became the norm to cross the boundaries of propriety.

Now, it is up to each individual to unravel the composite fictions created by the quantitative juggernaut of information overload. Information is there for the public; that is a good thing.  But to recognize and divide relevant information from the chatter of irrelevance — that is the key to maintaining one’s sanity.

For Federal and Postal employees who are contemplating filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether one is under FERS or CSRS, the tripartite pressure of information overload confronts one with an unavoidable immediacy: Trying to maintain one’s job while simultaneously fending off any adverse actions from the agency; trying to prepare a Federal Disability Retirement application without undue dissemination of sensitive medical information to those not necessary to the process, and thus attempting to retain a certain level of privacy; and trying to find relevant information from the vast storage of quantitative overload, and sifting it down to that which is relevant, as opposed to the chatter of irrelevance.

The chatter of irrelevance, quite simply defined, is that which makes a lot of noise, but is substantively devoid of useful content.

Compare, contrast, and analyze; but in the end, the age-old merchant’s adage of “buyer, beware,” should still be applied when accepting information for such an important step as preparing, formulating, and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal Worker is under FERS or CSRS.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Gov. and USPS Disability Retirement: Information Overload

Before we even became comfortable with the assignation of the term, “information age“, we were informed that we have already entered into the “post information age”; one has no idea where one stands today because of the lightning speed of our times.

Whether human nature can withstand the onslaught of such rapidity and volume of the multiplicity of component data; of what consequence we are creating in our very midst; whether destruction of societal relationships and connections are truly best for the survival and continuation of our species; all of these concerns matter little.  For, like the story of the complex machine which was once created, and for which Man forgot to build an “off switch”, the ever-forward trajectory of the age of infinite information encroaches whether we desire it or not.

Technology is dependent upon the newness of the next generation of dazzling whistles.  The desire for greater enhancement of stimuli is wired within the human psyche; and like the rat which becomes addicted and comes back for more, we require the overload.

For the Federal and Postal employee 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, the process of gathering, incorporating, and applying the information concerning Federal Disability Retirement and the bureaucratic process of obtaining the benefit can be, at best, a daunting task. There is always that “piece of evidence” of statutory linkage which must be considered; and as technology continues to progress without regard to individual circumstances, it is anathema to the regressive nature of a progressively deteriorating medical condition.

Ultimately, however, in whatever “age” we find ourselves in, we must play by the rules of the game, and acquire as much information as we can, and be able to filter that which is relevant as opposed to mere fluff.  Like the proverbial bubble filled with hot air, there is much information “out there” which is either irrelevant, inconsequential, or simply filled with errors.  One must be careful as to the source, and who to listen to.

For Federal and Postal employees under FERS or CSRS, the process of filing for Federal Disability Retirement will be a long and complicated one.  How one gets there will be the key; what information to use, and what tools to covet, will make all the difference in this complex world of post-whatever in which we find ourselves.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Medical Retirement for Federal Workers: Erroneous Information and Its Impact

A number of recent telephone calls clearly reveal that the abundance of erroneous information “out there” or disseminated by Union officials, Human Resource personnel, agency personnel, supervisors, coworkers, etc., continues unabated.  Ultimately, of course, the responsibility for acting upon information gathered — erroneous or not — is placed upon the individual who seeks out such information.  

The problem, as always, is that reliance upon erroneous information can result in irreversible consequences.  For example:  In preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS (CSRS is exempted from this particular “requirement”), must one receive a denial from the Social Security Administration before one can file a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS?  Must a Federal or Postal employee be separated from Federal Service for at least 6 months before filing for SSDI benefits?  Must SSDI be approved by the Social Security Administration prior to filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS?  The common thread and answer to all three of the questions posed:  No.  

The consequences of relying upon a “yes” answer, or information which either explicitly or implicitly implies that there is a precondition requirement of filing for SSDI before the Office of Personnel Management will accept and consider a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS?  Delaying of preparing and filing for FERS Disability Retirement until a week before the 1-year Statute of Limitations was about the expire.  

The fact is that the Office of Personnel Management doesn’t much care about whether or not a FERS Federal Disability Retirement applicant filed for SSDI or not, until the time of approval of a Federal Disability Retirement application.  For, the only issue between FERS Disability Retirement and SSDI is a monetary one — whether an offset will occur between the two sources of annuities.

One other point:  When a caller argues, stating:  “But that’s not what X said…”  You can believe whomever you wish; just check out the source, consider the reliability of the source, and determine the consequences of such reliance.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire