Federal Gov. and USPS Disability Retirement: Time Once Lost…

The time we expend ruminating upon future events which fail to occur; or engaging in frivolities beyond needed leisure to restore one’s mind and body; it is when action or inquiry could have answered one’s concerns that such time, once lost, is lost forever.

Some of the effort expended can be justified; certainly, before one can engage in action or inquiry, some time must be used for thoughtful preparation; but to ruminate endlessly in repetitive, circular fashion, is to allow for human frailty to overwhelm that characteristic which should be paramount in our lives:  rationality and the ability to properly reflect, analyze and judge accordingly.

Time has become a commodity of worth beyond mere measurement of the movement of objects; it is limited in scope but demanded far and above the capacity of existent supply.  Technology was meant to ameliorate; but we all know that it has only exponentially robbed us further of this valuable and limited unit.

For Federal and Postal employees who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition impacts one’s personal and professional life, the value of time cannot be emphasized.  Ruminating about one’s condition and the orientation for one’s future will not get one from point A to destination B.

Time is of the essence, and with the bureaucratic headaches and administrative delays compounding the difficulties, both at the agency level as well as with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, delay only creates to magnify the importance of time, timing, and the measuring of timeliness.

Time expended in fruitless efforts, once lost, is lost forever.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal Disability Retirement: Showtime

In old literary adage, one should always write in a manner which “shows” to the reader an event that is happening, a conflict unfolding, or a misery felt.  Entertainers never declare to one another, “It is Tell-time”.  Instead, we are all familiar with the singular phrase, “Showtime”.  For, one can “tell” a story, state facts, convey issues, etc., but the most effective tool in evoking empathy, sympathy and understanding from the reader, the recipient or the audience, is to “show” what is occurring.

Such conceptual efficacy also applies 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 interesting how a focal point of an endeavor often calls for utilization of tools outside of the arena of specialty demanded; thus, it is not so much knowing administrative law which is necessary to prepare an effective narrative in the Applicant’s Statement of Disability (Standard Form 3112A, both for FERS as well as for CSRS employees) — rather, it is the ability to engage in effective narrative prose.

The common literary refrains of repetitiveness, of descriptive word-usage, of choosing adjectives which flow and yet accurately describe the nexus between one’s medical conditions and the positional duties of one’s Federal or Postal job — these are all important in compiling an effective narrative of one’s medical condition and how it impacts upon one’s ability to perform one’s job.

While the doctor may present your case in a distant, clinical manner, the applicant himself/herself must evoke some semblance of understanding from the Claims Representative at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.  Indeed, it is “Showtime”, but the showing must be accomplished in words, and the time to touch upon is the present moment, encapsulated in time and the narrative prose.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire