Federal Disability Retirement: Plans, purposes and pivoting positions

The first in the series indicates the human endeavor of imagination and creativity, unique sets of binary forecasts projecting into a beautification of one’s future; the second, the qualitative and substantive core which motivates and impels the preceding characteristic and transforms it from mere ethereal musings into a concretized formulation of action; and the final element of the tripartite aggregate represents the capacity and ability of a person to remain adaptable, malleable, ready to take into consideration new data and conform appropriately, such that the originating plan is never abandoned but merely evolved into a pragmatic reflection, yet driven by the underlying impetus based upon strength and character.

It is the last of the three which is often the most difficult in this society of rigidity and unforgiving iconoclasm.  Bureaucracy does that to people, as the Leviathan of administrative growth and conformity to identity of purpose leaves little room for imagination and creativity.  We like to fool ourselves by pointing to the vast number of books published, or to “new plays” being produced off-and-on-Broadway; or to the innovations attained and announced in the world of technology, medicine and legal precedent, then pat ourselves on the back with self-praise and delusional despair.  But reality confronts us otherwise in the daily encounters with ordinary people.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition begins to impact one’s ability and capacity to perform all of the essential elements of one’s positional duties with the Federal agency or the U.S. Postal Service, the direct conflict with the ways of repetition and customary machinations of administrative malfeasance come to the fore.

Agencies rarely, if ever, desire to accommodate; they do not see the value of retaining Federal employees who have served with dedication, honor and reliability for these many years; and, instead, are willing to forego the minimal alterations to workplace requirements and engage in a termination fight in order to retain its mindless inscrutability.  Plans are meant to be changed — and for the Federal or Postal worker, the entrance of a medical condition, whether physical, psychiatric, or a combination of both, should so alter the plans.

Purposes can be adaptable — and so they should, when the medical condition enters the equation.  And those pivoting positions first learned in playing the game of basketball?  They teach us the valuable lessons not only to elude the opposition, but in order to gain the advantage of a position of strength where weakness was once thought to prevail.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement: Of Tomorrow’s Dreams Delayed

We like to think that our lives progress unencumbered in a linear line of advancement, with nary a bump or an obstacle unconquerable, and but for the occasional exuberance of planned erraticisms, the journey should be a smooth ride without surprises.  But just as planes sometimes fall from the sky, and nature betrays its perfection by mistaken errors of comedic turmoil, so the linear aspect of constancy often must confront the bumpiness of expectations.

Life rarely turns out as planned, and the more we plan, the less we expect fulfillment.  Perhaps that is the great tragedy of loss of youthful innocence.  In the end, it is how we face up to that realization that plans are meant to be altered, that unexpected curtailment of expectations unrealized merely represent the reality of the universe, and that in the end, the process of “how we face” it is more important than the desultory buoyancy of cynicism.

On a rollercoaster or other thrill-seeking device, there is often that final moment of exhilaration, that last pause before the turn; perhaps that is precisely why we seek such madness, for life itself rarely presents us with a similar and parallel event.  Instead, like the medical condition which slowly, steadily, and with monotonous rage progresses to debilitate, the constancy of repetitive boredom in life mirrors the tragedy of human proportionality and graveyards filled with unnamed tombstones.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition results in an inability to perform the essential elements of one’s positional duties, the bumping up against the tides of obstruction means that one must prepare, formulate, and file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS or CSRS, or even CSRS Offset.

Life’s unfair advantage at throwing down an obstacle in the midst of a promising career should never betray the need to adapt and consider the alternatives beyond; and for the Federal or Postal worker who can no longer perform all of the essential elements of the Federal or Postal position, the likelihood that the Federal agency or the U.S. Postal Service will engage in harassment and ultimate termination of employment, is greater than not.  That is why, of tomorrow’s promises and dreams delayed, it is necessary to prepare, formulate and file for OPM Disability Retirement benefits today, so that the tomorrow of dismal dalliances may be deemed a desirable date of this day’s inestimable worth.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire