OPM Disability Retirement under FERS: Quality of Life

It has never NOT been an issue in American life; for, with the opportunities available, modernity has placed a focus not just upon “living”, but upon a more grand concept:  That of “living well”.

The cemeteries and unmarked graves of silent history’s fallow grounds are filled with unstated sorrow and grief; and while modernity now knows of wealth and luxuries beyond the wildest imaginations, the past has known great poverty and suffering.

Prior to the age of refrigeration, much of every day was obsessed with preparing the next meal.  Between work just to eke out a living and considering what the next meal would be, survival was the point of existence — until the rise of the “middle class” upon the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.

Quality of Life?  Was that even a concept conscious for consideration?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition where that medical condition will no longer allow you to perform all of the essential elements of your job, the concept of “quality of life” must by necessity enter into the equation.

The endless cycle of work-to-weekend and back to work, where the weekend is merely for purposes of resting those chronic medical conditions in order to have some minimal energy-level to make it into work — well, you know the routine, and that vicious cycle is certainly without any “quality” to the life one leads.

Federal Disability Retirement benefits are meant to rescue you from the loss of quality of life.

Contact a FERS Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and let not your life reflect a period of history which was supposed to remain quiet in the fallow grounds of past burial grounds.

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.

 

Federal Disability Retirement: The “Get-Through” Day

Everyone recognizes that Mondays are such a day — of a “get-through” day: Of survival; attending to each issue or problem without freaking out completely; of knowing that the day will be relentless, but that an end will also arrive, with hopes that minimization of residuals into the next day will allow for a better tomorrow.

The world has become, in many ways, more complex, of greater difficulties, encompassing a morass of problems to be solved.  It has become more difficult for many to “make a living”.  Once, a few generations ago, a single-income household could support a fairly comfortable living.  Today, a dual-income household is a necessity, and even that is often insufficient to attain the minimal accouterments of middle-class living.

Is it because more “stuff” is required?  All of those electronic devices and mechanical necessities — are we tacking on greater expenses in an endless cycle of consumption?

And so the Monday may pass, but it is when that “get-through” day becomes an endless summation of days after days after days such that the weekend merely becomes a short respite in order to recuperate for the next round of endless “get-through” days — when that happens, it may be time to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.

The human body — and mind — can only withstand a certain level of stress and turmoil, and when life become a mere haberdashery of endless get-through days where each get-through day cannot anymore be gotten-through, then it is time for a change.  For Federal Government employees and U.S. Postal Service workers who can no longer get through another “get-through” day, consideration should be given to Federal Disability Retirement.

Contact an OPM Disability Attorney who specializes in FERS Employee Disability Retirement Law, and consider whether or not you can continue to get through anymore “get-through” days, when each day has become an unending cycle of such days where you can no longer get through them.

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.

 

Federal Disability Retirement Legal Services: Where Did The Time Go?

It is most often a rhetorical question — one which the answer is known, but the point is made by the query itself.  The question is thus left mostly unanswered.  Time escapes, slips away, is robbed and stolen away by the activities which we enjoy but are not conscious about in the very pursuance of engaging in an enjoyable or otherwise highly distractible participation.

The beginning of a weekend brings a smile of self-satisfaction; on the afternoon of Sunday, the query becomes: Where Did the Time Go?  As if the previous 2 days somehow had disappeared without any explanation for the time spent; evaporated without any knowledge of the activities engaged, the people having met and conversed with, etc.

Sometimes, the query is posed for decades of a frenetic life: The kids have grown up and gone; the empty nest syndrome naturally is filled by the void and echo of the same question: Where Did the Time Go?  Do we ask that same question, however, when we desire something to come to an end — or only when we wish that the circumstances would last a bit longer?

For example, when a career-ending medical condition requires the filing of an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS, do we ask during the process, “Where did the time go?”  Or, instead, do we query: When is this process going to end?

Medical conditions, likewise, often reverberate with similar questions; for, it is only the times of enjoyment when we ask the rhetorical question, and not when an undesirable condition is being experienced.

To get beyond the times of crisis and concerns, contact a lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and get an attorney who will see you through the time of uncertainty, and get you to a point where you may again ask the question, Where Did the Time Go?

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.

 

FERS Medical Retirement for Federal Employees: Reverberations of Choices

At the time, it may have seemed inconsequential.  The choices we make — of whether to go to college or not; of delaying further education; of where to live, move to, set roots in; whether to get married, start a family, the size of the family; of choosing friends, a career, maintaining close or distant contact with siblings, relatives, parents and extended family; and throughout life, the reverberations of our choices may appear, individually, to have minimal-to-no impact upon our lives.

We know this not to be true.  The small ripple created from a thrown pebble in a pond may seem inconsequential; but to the frog waiting for the undisturbed quietude to allow for an unsuspecting insect, the meal missed is the felt reverberation of the water’s ripple.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are contemplating filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the choice of advocacy may be an important component in making future plans.  What will your lawyer do for you?  Will he or she stay with you from start to finish throughout the stages of a Federal Disability Retirement process?

Contact an OPM Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and make sure that the reverberations of choices made will have a positive ripple-effect upon your future.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Lawyer

 

Medical Retirement Benefits for US Government Employees: The Identical Scene

People tend to watch things over and over again which they consider to be their “favorites” — until the repetition itself becomes monotonous through overexposure.  We can all ruin a good thing, can’t we?

We can admire an actor, novelist or some so-called “star” — until we read and learn about their personal lives and realize that appearance doesn’t quite match reality.  We can have a favorite scene in a movie or television show and watch it repeatedly — until the uniqueness of it wears thin and we begin to see beyond the wonder by which we were first captivated.

That “identical scene” is something we live in real life, as well — of getting up, taking care of our personal hygiene, commuting to work (except during these recent, pandemic times), seeing the identical scene of working, day after day — until an intervening event disrupts that identical scene, such as a medical condition.

When a medical condition disrupts our lives, those identical scenes become hyper-enhanced to the point where each day is no longer monotonous nor identical, but instead, each scene is a unique frame because of the medical condition itself.  That once “identical scene” no longer becomes a favorite one, precisely because of the medical condition itself.

At that point, you need to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.

Contact a FERS Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and consider whether the identical scene you once enjoyed has now become the dreaded scene of real life.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal & Postal Workers with Chronic Medical Conditions: Unexpected Changes

Why are changes so often unexpected?  Do we expect that everything will always remain the same?  Is it our expectations which require stability, or our needs?

Change is all around us.  Decay and death are a daily part of nature.  The incremental nature of change — of the slow, degenerative process of life which is barely perceptible from day to day, but clearly evident when one views frozen snapshots from decade to decade — allows us to fool ourselves that change is not inevitable.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who never expected that filing a FERS Disability Retirement application would ever be necessary, the resistance to change is a natural response — resistance first to the medical condition itself, of not accepting that it could “happen to me”, etc.  Then, the resistance to taking the next steps in preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application.

Yet, it is clear that the opposite is true: That change is to be expected, for that is the nature of the world.

Contact an OPM Disability Lawyer who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement Law.  Change is a natural part of the process of life.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal & Postal Disability Retirement: The Qualifying Standard

What if a group of individuals gathered to compete in a race, of sorts, and trained, engaged in strenuous preparatory work and did all of the things necessary in order to “qualify”? They all gather on the agreed-upon date and, in customary athletic clothing, run a predetermined distance where 3 individuals out of ten cross a white line in sequential fashion. There is no doubt as to who the 3 “front runners” were. Yet, when the prizes are handed out, they are given to the 10th, 7th and 5th place runners. There is an understandable uproar. A protest is filed.

Umpires and referees gather (are there such people, or is that just in baseball, football, soccer and basketball?) and discuss the situation at length. Small, hand-held rule books are consulted and the audience sits in anguished silence as the outcome is debated in a deliberative fashion. Furrowed eyebrows are mashed in faces of concerned silence; the crowd that had gathered to witness the sporting event argue vociferously over the unfairness of it all; television crews have arrived, having been tipped off that a major scandal has been scented and the sharks have gathered for the afternoon kill.

No one notices that a little old man who has stood watching the entire spectacle with a peaceful, quiet calm has slowly made his way onto the platform where a microphone has been set up. He approaches the podium, adjusts the contraption and begins thus: “Ahem”. He pauses, waiting for everyone at the event to recognize the point from where the clearing of his throat originated, and continues on: “I am Mr. X; I organized this event. If you look at the last paragraph of the rules-book, it specifically states the following: ‘Mr. X is the sole determiner of the qualifying standard’. I am, as I said, Mr. X, and I determined that runners 5, 7 and 10 are the winners. End of story”. The little old man then turns around and walks back down, and away from the event.

Now, for Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition leads the Federal or Postal employee to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, this story may appear to parallel the manner in which the U.S. Office of Personnel Management acts: As a law unto itself.

Fortunately, they are not the sole arbiter of the qualifying standard and, instead, there is such a thing as “The Law”. In order to apply the law and force OPM to follow the true and only qualifying standard, however, it is necessary to “know” the law; and, in order to do that, it is best to consult with an attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law. Otherwise, you might be subject to the same standard (or lack thereof) as the little old man who does what he wants on any given day depending on how he feels on that day, or in that moment.

Sincerely,

Robert R.McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Employee Disability Retirement: Smelling the roses

It is a simplistic attitude, but one whose truism dominates and attracts: to enjoy life and have the capacity to relish in it.

“Stopping to smell the roses” is all well and good to declare when you don’t have much to do, or when you are in a position to reverse life’s onward march; however, for most of us, the stresses of daily living, of trying to make a living, and of the uncontrollable demands that beset us every day, undermines the advice of the sage: yes, tranquility can reflect a healthy mind and slowing of pace can lead to longevity and stave off mortality’s inevitable decline; but how does one contend with and control modernity’s screaming frenzy?

The appendage to the image of “smelling the roses,” of course, is the admonition to “pause” or “stop and” take the time; but is our loss of olfactory sensitivity a result of our lack of use?  How many of us even notice the scent of a flower, whether when we walk into a room or meander along a country path? Instead, most of us sneeze with irritation, beset with asthmatic symptoms of allergic disdain, and view such niceties as merely one of life’s obstacles to overcome and ignore.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition prevents the Federal or Postal employee from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, the concept of pausing and “smelling the roses” is the last thing to consider, and life’s travails will only continue to shout and scream to prevent such a prosaic declaration.

Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management will not necessarily allow for greater time to smell those roses, but it will allow for more time to attend to one’s own health — and isn’t that the point?

We take for granted our health, but when our health begins to deteriorate, the stresses begin to compound and exponentially aggregate.

Smelling the roses comes only after the priorities of our life have been placed into proper order, and preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits when it becomes necessary is the first step towards reaching for the ultimate paradigm of life’s resistance to the stresses inherent and overwhelming: Health; life; relationships — then, to pause in order to smell the roses.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Employee Disability Retirement: The river of life

The evocative images of such a metaphorical phrase are immediately understood by most.  As in challenges we all face throughout life, a river snakes across different and foreign terrain; in some seasons, a drought may dry up the vibrancy of the river, while in times of plenty, flooding and overabundance may occur.

There are periods of swift currents, and days of lazy haze; and underneath the calm exterior is an underworld of activity and blur of living, both of tumult as well as those timeless memories forever remembered, and it is precisely the paradigm upon which Heraclitus staked his perspective upon with the statement that “No man steps in the same river twice.”  For, indeed, the essence of the universe is one of ever-present change; it is the one constant in a life filled with unpredictable indifference, of inchoate beginnings that never lead to any fruition; of trials encountered without reason or rationale; and the river of life leads us through the mountaintops of emotional pinnacles and down into the depths of a valley so dark that despondency fails to reach the eternal chasm of sadness undefined.

Streams flowing into rivers; unexpected tributaries swallowing up the nameless and uncharted waters; and of snowcaps that melt and flow without fluidity of purpose, so life brings about such challenges, engagements and unexpected face-offs.  What are we to make of this river?  What to do in this life?  Must we always be defined by accomplishments, or can the value of a human being be sufficient by reason of a self-fulfillment of an ego’s search?  Is it truly the person who has amassed the greatest amount of “stuff” who is considered the “winner”, and does the river of life grant any greater significance, relevance or meaning to the quantifiable monetary value than to the man who dies penniless?

For the Federal employee and U.S. Postal worker who suffers from a medical condition, such that the medical condition necessitates the Federal or Postal worker into preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, such questions embracing the river of life can be daunting, obsessively important, and awakening of a spark in the deeper recesses of one’s forgotten past to come to the fore.  Why?  Because medical conditions force a prioritization of values, meaning and relevance in one life; and, indeed, that is the foundational essence of every river of life – of what we believe; that we believe; and for which we believe.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Disability Retirement for Federal Employees: Life wears

The doubling of words is always an interesting endeavor; for, almost always, the linguistic connotations erupting from such coupling is rarely limited to the combination of the two, but a plenitude that proves Aristotle’s declaration that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

For, in the concept that “life wears”, we gain an understanding of multiple ideas, depending upon the tonal emphasis one places upon accents of consonants, verbs or whether the first in the sequence, or the last: that, the turmoil and challenges of life wears upon the soul; that there are varying experiences that are presented in the course of one’s life, such that the entirety of a spectrum in a person’s mortal existence “wears” different clothing to exhibit to the world; or, even that life itself has predetermined sets of wardrobe such that in different stages of a given life, such manifestation of colorful or drab garments may be that which simply must be accepted in the karma of living out such lives; and, likely, multiple other meanings and shades of ideations that this author is not perceptive enough to reveal in their hidden connotations and implied meanings unrevealed by the dullness of one’s lack of creative energy.

Whatever meanings may be derived, it is always of value to combine isolated islands of concepts, words and linguistic paradigms in order to fathom a greater comprehension.  For, ultimately, that is the challenge of daily life.  If human beings are unique in any gifted sense, it is in the capacity and ability to bring together combinations of analogies otherwise not thought of, in order to gain a greater insight into a world which is persistently incomprehensible and obstructed by our myopic view seen through lenses of a Kantian universe inaccessible but for the structural categories we impose by postulating predetermined paradigms of impediments.

Life wears many garments; life wears, in that the constant struggles and turmoil we must bear leaves us profoundly exhausted after each battle; and the fashion show that life presents to us each day is as plentiful as the Paris runways that dawn with each new season, and yet we must somehow endure it all.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition becomes an obstacle where life wears upon the depleted energy reserved for daily struggles, preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, is often another metaphor of a garment well-worn that nevertheless must be contemplated.  Perhaps the thought doesn’t wear well; or, the future contemplated is one of multiple “life wears” that you must consider; or, maybe your life wears a thought process which must incorporate the new paradigm of a Federal Disability Retirement.

Whatever the conceptual output from the combination of disparate islands of thought-processes, the plain fact is that in pursuing an OPM Disability Retirement annuity, the Federal and Postal worker must recognize that life’s challenges always wears throughout both a bed of roses as well as a crown of thorns.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire