FERS Medical Disability Retirement: The Domino Theory

It was a theory adopted during the Cold War — embraced by those brilliant Harvard-educated policy wonks in the Kennedy Administration and beyond — believing that if one nation succumbed to the evils of communism, others would quickly fall like a perfectly aligned row of dominos.

A theory is perfectly fine to have; once applied in practice, however, it can have devastating consequences.  It was based upon such a theory that Vietnam was fought for — a backward country full of jungles and malaria, of which few Americans were even aware of its existence until thousands — then, tens of thousands — of young men began to die there.

Like other theories which once were embraced by intellectuals and “experts” whom everyone accepted as smarter than everyone else, such beliefs and those who once held them are now merely leftover vestiges of historical follies.  Once Vietnam fell, the rest of the world did not fall like the dominos they were supposed to represent.

We tend to forget that a theory is merely a thought put together in an antiseptic setting divorced from reality and, even if applied to the real world, may remain as nothing more than an academic exercise.  It may be nothing more than the “flat-earth theory”; one can believe in it, but it doesn’t make it true.

In other areas of life and practice, however, real-world consequences force people to actually respond in more practical ways.  There are “theories”, and then there are applications which have real-world consequences.  Vietnam was a prime example.  Having a theory that you are invincible and indestructible is one thing; walking in front of an oncoming bus to test such a theory — well, that is quite another matter.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who need to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management because of a medical condition, one may well have a “theory” that getting an OPM Disability Retirement is merely a matter of gathering one’s medical records and filling out those incomprehensible OPM Disability Standard Forms (SF 3107 Series and SF 3112 Series); but if you actually test out that theory, it is likely that you will end up with a denial from OPM.

Before testing out such a theory, however, you may want to contact a FERS Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, lest your theory concerning the ease of getting a Federal or Postal Employee Disability annuity ends up like those other theories, like the Domino Theory of the forgotten past.

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 Disability Retirement Law: Stupid Mistakes

Some would argue that it is a tautology, as in the statement, “They came one after the other in succession.”  For, as “one after the other” is saying the same as “in succession”, there is an unnecessary redundancy at play.

Now, the reason why it is perfectly acceptable to make the latter statement “unnecessary redundancy” as opposed to merely using “redundancy” to describe the tautology (for one might argue that all redundancies are by definition unnecessary and therefore we have again used a form of tautology by stating, “unnecessary redundancies”), it is undeniably the case that certain redundancies, while perhaps not “necessary” in the strict sense, may be chosen for optimizing a magnification of attention.

For example, one might want to double-emphasize a child’s accomplishment and exclaim, “What a great job!  That was very good!”  Now, for a grownup, the single exclamation may have been adequate; but for a child, the attentive second exclamation may be felt to be necessary to emphasize to the child the enormity of the small accomplishment.

As for the tautology at hand, which has been circuitously avoided as a result of going off on a tangent (for, a tangent itself is the unnecessary sidebar, but one which is engaged in for pure delight).  Of course, “going off” and “tangent” might also be considered a tautology of sorts, because a “tangent” by definition is likened to “going off”.

Are all mistakes by definition “stupid”?  If so, it is a tautology; but one might counter, many scientific experiments are “mistakes”, but not necessarily “stupid”.  Yet, it is a commonplace theme to describe most mistakes as such, but perhaps it is because we normally want to avoid adding insult to injury that we describe most mistakes as merely “mistakes” without adding the salt of stupidity to the mix.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a health condition such that the health condition prevents the Federal or Postal worker from performing all of the basic elements of his or her Federal or Postal job, it may be time to prepare, formulate and file an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under the current Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

But in doing so, don’t make a stupid mistake by thinking that you can be your own lawyer and represent yourself; but, in such instances, while the mistakes you may make may not necessarily be stupid, they may nevertheless end up with a synonym close to it, as in — “avoidable”.

Contact a Federal Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, lest “stupid” become the tautology which defeats an avoidable mistake.

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 Disability Retirement Law: Of Future Events

Are we the only species which imagines, worries, obsesses over — of future events as yet unfulfilled?  Do we create scenarios from “whole cloth” of events which might occur but which often never come to fruition?

Of course, the past is a good indicator of future events — a harbinger and foreboding of storms to come; the present, of predictors based upon current trends; and of the future, whether seen in the coiling bundles of anxious imaginations or steeped within solid predicates that cannot be ignored; and in the end, it is this species called “human beings” who engage in such folly.  But for such insanities, we would not have stock markets and commodities “futures” to bet upon.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who worry about their futures because of a health crisis which prevents the Federal or Postal employee from performing one or more of the essential elements of his or her job, worries and anxieties about the future can be daunting, overwhelming, and obsessively of concern.

The future must be planned for; the present circumstances need to be dealt with in order to plan for that future; and the past actions of your agency are probably a good indicator of future events.

Contact an OPM Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and begin planning for your future by preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under FERS; for, in the end, it is up to the greater predictor of future events to embrace the inevitabilities of life’s misfortunes, taking the past into account, facing the present circumstances with a direct and serious assessment, and thus correlating the past and present to prepare for future eventualities.

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 Employees with Disabilities: The History of Our Lives

Few of use consider the history of our lives — its place, relevance, context and significance.  There are those who are historical beings — of politicians; those involved in major crimes; a singular, spectacular event; or of a blip in history which may deserve a footnote in a biography or narrative which is soon forgotten upon becoming delisted from the New York Times Bestseller columns.

Whether of an integral paragraph or a side note, we have a place in the minds of relatives, friends, some acquaintances and even, sometimes, strangers we encounter but forget.  In a self-centered society like ours, many more have puffed themselves up to such an extent that they actually worry about their “legacy” — of what some will say about them after they are departed and what will they think when all is said and done?

The history of our lives is a complex one — told at dinner tables, at Thanksgiving and other gatherings where conversations begin and taper off, tidbits of questions and answers begin and falter — “What ever happened to Uncle X?”  “Do you remember the time when…?”  And then, of course, there is the haunting memory of one’s self about one’s self, and the fear of mortality combined with a desire to be remembered.  Perhaps it is memory alone which allows for the eternal; and so long as there are those who remain who recall a vestige of a life mostly forgotten, we continue to live on in our own misbegotten sense of immortality.

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 Federal or Postal job or career, the history of one’s life must often be narrated in response to SF 3112A, Applicant’s Statement of Disability.  How much of one’s life must be revealed; to what extent; of what details and how far back — these will sometimes play a crucial role in determining the validity, viability and efficacy of a Federal Disability Retirement application, to be submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Consult with a Federal Disability Attorney who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement Law and discuss the viability of a Federal Disability Retirement application, including the history of lives which otherwise are left to the unmarked tombstones overgrown with wildflowers left unattended.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Lawyer Representation for OPM Disability Retirement: The wave of unwillingness

Watching waves along a seashore is indicative of the rhythmic cadence of life’s daily encounters; the rolling regularity of repetition, then for some odd reason — or none at all — a sudden rush of an unanticipated surge that changes the expectations relied upon.

Human will is a peculiar characteristic; it is not quite a conceptual principle, nor even a sensation; it is an inner force emanating from deep within one’s psyche, energized at various times, inert and dormant at other.  When does the wave of unwillingness appear?  Like that rhythmic lull which is suddenly overtaken by a surge that is unexpected, it appears in life with a sudden vengeance.

For most of life, we are willing — whether to be helpful, to be generous, kind, passing things by and allowing for things to occur without much resistance.  Then, a medical condition begins to gnaw at one’s health — at first, perhaps just an inkling of troubled waters ahead, then a persistence that fails to abate.  By sheer will do we get through each day, overcoming by power of driven insistence and persistence, until one day the wave of unwillingness makes us stop, ponder and consider: How many more days can the power of one’s will continue like this?

Medical conditions have a way of wearing one’s will down.  For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition begins to overwhelm with the wave of unwillingness — where the body becomes weary and fatigued; the mind begins to lose its clarity of purpose — it is time to prepare, formulate and file 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.

Remember that the wave of unwillingness did not just come about without accompaniment by other waves; it is just that the rhythm of the daily onslaught of stresses, the lack of care for the medical condition that continued to deteriorate, etc., came to a critical point where you could no longer avoid the reality of what the disease, injury or condition was trying to tell you: The human will, while resilient, can withstand only so much, and one’s health often contributes greatly to the ability and capacity to get one to a certain point in life, and when a critical juncture is encountered where the wave of unwillingness begins to overtake and overwhelm, it is time to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, so that you may be able to once again enjoy the lull of rhythmic waves that create a symphony of sounds like the lullaby of a childhood’s warm memories.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement: Static Divides

Most of our lives are struggles to maintain the status quo; for, as change results in turmoil, so rectitude of unchanged repetition requires the least amount of effort, but mere monotony of action to forego any greater expenditure of further efforts.  It is when the static longevity of identical mirroring of life begins to harm, that it then divides us.

Doing the same thing daily, over and over again, with slight variations to accommodate life’s vicissitudes, allows for the peaceful quietude of daily living; but when such repetition of activity may potentially lead to self-immolation through inactivity of thought, then that is what some term as “insanity”.  When the static calm of daily living results in a division of spoils, it must spur one to a different way of thinking.

Medical conditions tend to do that to us.  For, it is those “outside forces” which we cannot control, which mandates activity previously unforeseen.

Preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, is a time of disquietude, precisely because change is now imminent in the projected future of our own imagination.  It means that one must take affirmative steps and actively engage in the process of that very division which we delayed, procrastinated, and persistently disregarded, and perhaps even lied to ourselves about tomorrow, next week, or next month.

The future is always upon us; and when we ignore the perils of tomorrow, we pay for it at the price of today.

Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through OPM is never an easy matter; it is disruptive, a bureaucratic nightmare, and an agony of engagement with a distasteful palate.  But as the time of static division pervades even unto our very soul, it is time to take that step for change and begin to prepare, formulate and file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through OPM, bringing change into our lives in a world often unchanging but resistant to the enemy of ourselves.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement: The Peril of Bypassing Process

Efficiency negates process naturally; or, if not in pure extinguishment, a progressive curtailing of the methodology of reaching from initiation Point A to finality of journey at Point B.  Additionally, when American Pragmatism combined with capitalism of the tallest order sets about to attain the greatest return in the shortest time possible, with minimizing effort and curtailing human toil, it is the end-product which is the focus, and the profit to be gained.

Relational interaction is thus cast aside; craftsmanship, the care of an artisan, and the sense of community abiding in the very linear compendium of efforts expended — they no longer matter.  That was the essence of Marx’s complaint — that the disaffected worker no longer possessed any connection to the product of his or her toil, and the separation from process resulted in the alienation of meaning.  It is, indeed, a perilous journey to forego the process; for, “how one does something” is inextricably tied with “how well one does it”.

As process is the means to get to the result, so shortening the time, length of effort and expenditure of resources, is the natural inclination, and defines that for which American efficiency has been universally praised.  For bureaucratic and administrative matters, however, it may just not be possible to curtail the conditions of one’s journey.

Thus, for Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who need to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, the desire to short-circuit the process and to forego the patience needed in order to survive the bureaucratic morass of one’s own Federal agency or the U.S. Postal Service, then the requisite wait at OPM, is often a painful result unhappily faced and unpreparedly encountered.

Bureaucracy by definition finds its purpose for existence in the very complexities of its own creation.  Filing for Federal Disability Retirement under FERS or CSRS is a process which cannot be curtailed, and any attempt to circumvent or otherwise alter the administrative and procedural content of the methodology of the journey itself, is done at the peril of the person who ponders such posturing of heretical penitence.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire