Disability Retirement for Federal Government Employees: The Tenuous Thread of Life

In this, our desensitized, sanitized life; in a world of virtual reality and technological complexity, the modern man has little empathy for the tenuous thread of life.

We are conditioned and trained more to cry over a movie scene than the tragedy which befalls a real entity. A well-rehearsed scene which evokes a glandular response, perfected at the 50th take with artificial lighting and poll-tested under the directorship of professionals, will tug the sympathies of our fellow man, than the unseen damage done to the psyche of a puppy lost in a world of daily productivity.

That is the stark reality which the Federal and Postal Worker must face in seeking Federal Disability Retirement through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS; of avoiding the land mines of adverse actions by one’s agency; of trying to contain the disdain of fellow Federal or Postal Employees who suddenly begin to shun those who are not part of “the team” and who cannot justify their existence because of lack of productivity.

It is the tenuous thread of life which becomes all the more real and revealing; for, it is ultimately not what we produce or how much; what we consume or which brand; rather, it is how we tend to the weakest and the flimsy which represents the soul of a person, a neighborhood, a community.

Federal Disability Retirement is a benefit which preserves the dignity of the Federal and Postal Worker by providing for a base annuity, and then to allow that person to go out and try a new vocation and career without penalizing that person for again becoming a productive member of society.

That tenuous thread of life; it is well worth fighting for.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

OPM Disability Retirement: The Goal of Perfection

The problem with perfection is that it requires the imperfect to fail to act.  Fear of failure is a pervasive problem resulting in inaction.  The unrealistic paradigm which society imposes both in explicit ways as well as in not-so-subtle ventures, leaves the rest of us wondering whether there is any distinction anymore between the “real” world and the virtual world.

Have you ever noticed, for example, how foreign actors actually have crooked teeth?  It is doubtful that there exists an American actor with a tooth out of place, but that is the standard we are presented with, in this world of perfection.  But the need to be perfect, or the thought that X should not proceed until and unless perfection is achieved, can be both an excuse, as well as a psychological obstacle, in acting at all.

In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, while the goal to attempt to achieve is to put together the “best” Federal Disability Retirement application for submission to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, such a goal should not be hindered by a false concept of perfection.

If the Statute of Limitations is about to run out, it is better to submit an imperfect application, than to submit nothing at all.  A Federal Disability Retirement application can always be supplemented with additional information; and as life itself is never perfect because human beings are imperfect beings (excusing those entities in the virtual universe), it is best to accept a level of reality, and proceed to ensure that one has prepared, formulated and filed for Federal Disability Retirement benefits with the “best” application possible, and not necessarily the “perfect” one.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Disability Retirement for Federal Government Employees: Determining to File

Sometimes, in coming to a decision to prepare, formulate and file a Federal Disability Retirement application from the Office of Personnel Management, either under FERS or CSRS, the determination to file is made based upon external forces, circumstances and issues either beyond one’s control or, if they were once within reasonable constraints, have become unleashed.  

Thus, when a PIP is imposed upon the employee, or an injured Federal or disabled Postal employee is presented with a Proposal to Removal based upon unacceptable attendance, excessive use of LWOP, etc., then such external circumstances have essentially “forced” one to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS.  

It matters not whether the Federal or Postal employee has a “legitimate” medical condition; the legitimacy of the medical condition is precisely what has resulted in the Agency action, and whether such external circumstance may be deemed “unfair”, “unreasonable”, “lacking of compassion”, or any other negative theology of human action one may ascribe — the time has come to prepare, formulate and file a Federal Disability Retirement application.  

In the best of all worlds, a deliberative process of preparing one’s finances, considering all of the options, rationally constructing the foundational steps to gather all of the information necessary before determining that it is time to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits — all of these should come into play.  

But we rarely live in the best of worlds; this is an imperfect world full of imperfect individuals; and, as such, the determination to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS may well come to fruition based upon external, unreasonable, and uncontrollable circumstances.  As the old dictum goes:  That’s life.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire