Writing an Effective Federal Disability Retirement Application

According to Ludwig Wittgenstein, the identification of context-appropriate language games is instructive in this linguistic-focused society.  With the explosion of information through the internet, via twitter, Facebook, texting and email, the changing and malleable nature of language is quickly evolving into a populace of blurred lines, where the virtual world and the substantive, Aristotelian world no longer possess clear bifurcations.  However language changes; whatever the form of communication; the need to convey clarity of thought will still and always exist.

It is one thing to experience life; it is another to tell about it.  In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, it is important to be able to “tell about it”.

Yes, the primary satisfaction of the legal criteria necessarily requires the substantive experience of the medical condition; but there is a conceptual distinction to be made between “living it”, “telling it”, and “proving it.”  It is presumed that the Federal or Postal employee who is preparing to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits already satisfies the first of the three; it is the second, and especially the third, which presents a problem.

Don’t think that just because you “should qualify” because of the nature, extent and severity of one’s medical condition, that such experiential phenomena justifies the proving of one’s Federal Disability Retirement application.  Ask OPM about it; if you can even get a response back.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

OPM Disability Retirement: The Measure of Success

Gratitude is often the measure of success, but such a measure is fleeting, at best, and only as relevant as the next person who may express disappointment.  In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the ultimate measure of success is whether or not the Federal or Postal employee obtains an approval from OPM; there is no “relative success” in such an administrative process, and indeed, it is an “either-or” bifurcation with no middle ground.

Furthermore, much of the process can appear strangely subjective —  in one case, a fairly skimpy file of medical records can warrant an approval from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, while in another, a large compendium of medical documentation can result in multiple denials, despite every good effort of providing medical narrative reports, treatment notes, etc.

Because individuals comprise the universe of determinations in a Federal Disability Retirement application, and therefore the encounter between individuals necessarily results in differing perspectives, opinions and approaches, there never can be a “science” of applying for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.  The best that can be accomplished is to put together as effective a Federal Disability Retirement packet as one can — of medical records and reports; of legal citations; of a persuasive argument; and a tight nexus between one’s medical conditions and the type of positional duties one must perform.

Beyond that, the measure of success must await for a positive outcome.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire