OPM Disability Retirement under FERS: Is It Enough?

That is always the question, isn’t it?  Especially, these days, when there are so many options, so many avenues, so many ways to get off of the proverbial path and become a wayward nonconformist.

Is love enough to last a lifetime?  Is a sense of obligation enough to be committed for the agreed-upon enmeshment?  Is religious fervor enough to maintain one’s faith even in the face of secularism’s hedonistic pull?  Is pleasure enough to sustain one’s sense of wanting to exist?  Is duty enough to compel a soldier to sacrifice for his country?  Is life enough to sustain?

That was the ultimate question for French existentialism, especially as delineated in Camus’ set of essays, beginning with the Myth of Sisyphus.  What is “enough”?  How can it be quantified?  Underlying it all, isn’t the ultimate question beyond whether something is “enough”, actually an irrelevant question?

For, as Aristotle would put it (and in this Post-Factual World, where Aristotle and Plato are no longer read, and thus, no longer relevant), we must go back to the basics, to the “foundational principles” underlying our belief systems: What is meaningful in our lives?

When there is a void in meaningfulness, hedonism fills that emptiness.  That is why teenagers turn to drugs; that is why adults succumb to alcohol; and that is why, when ISIS came into existence, and when the war in Ukraine began, thousands of Americans flocked to join in the “cause” — because, when the void of meaninglessness pervades, people jump to join anything and everything which becomes the cult of relevance.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition no longer allows you to continue in that career of choice — the work which gave “meaning” to your life — it is important to recognize that, indeed, there is “life after a Federal career”.  Likely, you may be somewhat saddened by the fact that your Federal or Postal career is over.  However, beyond your career, there is no meaning to life without your health.

And yes, there actually is “life after getting a Federal Disability Retirement” — and there abounds countless testimonials which attest to the fact that it is, indeed, “enough” to get a FERS Disability Retirement annuity, focus upon your health, then go into some other line of work in the private or state sector.

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 Assistance: Arrangements

We do it to flowers and files; to desks and decor; to books and bad hair days.  We make arrangements.  Our lives may have begun in disarray, but we have the rest of it to arrange.  In our own minds, we reposition various memories; we selectively choose which ones to tell those whom we encounter; the rest, we stash away.

Sometimes such arrangements work; at other times, they come back to haunt us.  PTSD is like that.  Depression and Anxiety, panic attacks which paralyze — they are like the poisonous snake which we thought we had securely locked away in some glass casing, but somehow it had found a way to escape.

Memories of childhood traumas; of terrible events which once happened, had imprinted an indelible memory, but which we thought we could “handle” by arrangements later in our lives.  But like flowers and files which need constant tending to; of desks and decor that require further personal touches; and books which catalogue things and lives or bad hair days requiring a long comb, the arrangements of our lives constitute a forever-struggle, especially when new challenges crop up.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal employees who suffer from a medical condition, whether of a psychiatric nature or of a debilitating physical kind, preparing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS), to be submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, may be the arrangement required in order to move to the next productive phase of your life.

Contact a FERS Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and begin the arrangement which will allow you to focus upon the highest priority in any arrangement — your health.

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: That Fleeting Feeling

Camus thought that our lives are based upon an absurdity — Of Happiness being the constant goal, and yet of so much of the population living in abject misery.  If happiness is merely an emotion, then it is indeed a fleeting feeling which can change like the weather, like changing seasons, as the direction of the winds and what we have eaten.

He studied the Greek Classics and determined that the absurdity of the human condition had arrived at a crisis point, much to be attributed to the fact that we had lost our sense of humanity, as well as that fleeting feeling.  He was not a pure idealist; he had witnessed the cruelty of humanity during WWII; and when others were ready to “move on” as if the crisis had been resolved, he recognized early on that the crisis was just beginning.

Compassion and empathy — those human qualities which could be cultivated as unique characteristics of a species — could be nurtured.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition impacts one’s career as a Federal or Postal employee, the time to prepare an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS may have arrived.

Do not, however, expect your agency to display those unique characteristics of compassion and empathy — or even understanding. That fleeting feeling that your agency cares — put that aside.  Instead, contact a FERS attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and begin the process of protecting your rights under the Federal Disability Retirement laws and regulations.

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.

 

Medical Retirement for Federal and Postal Employees: Stupid Mistakes

Our first reaction may be that such a phrase is in fact a tautology; for, to make a “mistake” is by definition to do something “stupid”, and so it is merely a redundancy to use and place both terms together.  But surely we can conceive of circumstances in which “making a mistake” turns out to be the very opposite of having done something “stupid”?

Perhaps some earth-shattering mistake in science resulted in a new discovery — of having made a mistake in combining two or more elements but resulting in a new, composite element beneficial to society?  Or of having made an accounting error which accrued to one’s personal financial benefit?  But even then, one may argue that the mistake itself was a stupid one; the consequences merely turned out to be beneficial, but that doesn’t necessarily impact the character of the mistake itself.

And what of follies in our youth?  Does age and greater experience, retrospectively reflecting back into the series of life’s mistakes and actions thoughtlessly taken, lead us to conclude that we have made multiple “stupid mistakes”?  What, then, constitutes a “mistake” such that it was stupid?

Often, a glimpse into what we did in the past — of having forged ahead without a plan, thoughtlessly, and without due diligence in considering all of the factors; these, and many more actions taken without an inkling of preparatory counsel, constitute what most people consider as a “stupid mistake”.

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, it may be necessary to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.  In doing so, it is necessary to have a full and comprehensive understanding of the laws which govern FERS Disability Retirement and the administrative process and procedures abounding.

Consult with a FERS Attorney who specializes in OPM Disability Retirement Law, lest you come to regret it as one more “stupid mistake” that was made — as one of many that we all make throughout our lifetimes.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Legal Representation on Federal Disability Retirement Claims: That voice within

Whose voice is debating within the insular corridors of the otherwise silent individual?  Which one is the dominant voice, and how does one determine if that particular voice should be the one which attains such a prominent status and stature within the cauldron of one’s own thoughts?

We assume, of course, that when we are pondering within the insularity of our own thoughts, that the voice which speaks within is our own voice; but is it necessarily so?  Yes, yes — the traditional concept of “madness” will begin to encroach, of strange voices which begin to invade and intrude, and where schizophrenia is considered the likely explanation whenever “other” voices are considered.

But that is not what is necessarily the case.  It may be that the voice within is simply a regurgitation from a memory stored long ago — perhaps of one’s parents; a friend; an old school chum; a brother, sister or a cousin; and it is retrieved as an amalgamation of many others, besides.  More importantly, who determines the validity of what is being said, the subject of debate and the substance of the winning argument?

The danger of a soliloquy is that the lone figure who tries to figure things out on his or her own may not have all of the facts or information at hand which can lead to the right decision being made.  An unheard conversation undertaken and engaged by a singular voice may be no discussion at all; it may merely be a wrong-headed delineation based upon errors in fact and missteps in logical analysis.  That is why it is important to consult a person who specializes in a field and is knowledgeable at the outset, so that the facts gathered and the analysis conducted are sound methodologies based upon superior analytical insights and resulting in expert advice.

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, it is important to gather the necessary and pertinent facts about the entire process, the known administrative facets and pitfalls, etc., so that a superior decision can be reached in preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to be filed with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, so that the voice within will avoid the mistake of listening to too many voices without which may lead him or her down the false paths of misinformation.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Retirement for Mental or Physical Incapacity: The human drama

There are other dramas, of course — of lions and similar predators; of insects beneath leaves dripping in the steam of rainforests deep within the jungles of equatorial regions rarely visited; of dogs chasing cats and cats chasing mice; of rabbits scurrying to avoid the claws of a hawk or an eagle; and then, of the human drama encompassing life, living, pain, sorrow, happiness, joy, hope and failure, all bundled up into communities where strangers walk about with smiles no longer reflecting joy or a frown implying sadness, but just an empty stage echoing from the scene that was acted out the day before.

The human drama is distinct and distinguishable from other species’ discourses of acting that may embrace the spectrum of emotions, for it is played out not merely by facial expressions, roaring of voices or whimpering of cries, but through the medium of language.  Language is the manner in which the drama is played, viewed, acted and depicted; and that makes for all of the difference in the world.  It is, as Shakespeare’s character surmised, as if all the world is a stage where each bit plays his or her part; and it is by language alone that the human drama is played.

What entrance fee is charged; how much we are willing to pay in order to witness the playing out of a specific act or drama unfolding; and in what private living rooms or bedrooms we would select for a premier viewing, we all have our preferences.  What is comprised of in other species’ dramas, perhaps we will never know, and care not about; for it is the peculiarity of the intra-species comity of needs, wants, desires and clung-to hopes for the future that link us all within the drama of the human kind.

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, the human drama has been magnified by the pain and anxiety compounded by the medical condition itself — of the daily fight against the pain or inner anguish; of the increasing pressures at work, complicated by threats of adverse actions, placing you or threatening to put you on a PIP; of possible termination looming on the horizon; and all the while, the struggle to maintain your health and equilibrium.

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 an option that should be considered by all Federal and Postal employees who suffer from a medical condition where the medical condition is preventing the Federal or Postal employee from performing all of the essential elements of the Federal or Postal job, to be filed with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management; and however one views the unfolding drama of the next scene or act, consulting with an experienced attorney who specializes in preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits for Federal and Postal employees may be the best way of beginning the next Act of that human drama called “life beyond a Federal or Postal job”.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement Representation: Hope of escape

Perhaps it is a weekly lottery ticket purchases; or the novel that is periodically worked on but never gets completed; or even a notion that there is a distant relative who will one day meet mortality and leave a legacy of a magnitude beyond the capacity to exhaust; but of whatever dreams, fantasies or mathematical improbabilities, the mere hope of escape is often the fingernail that allows for sanity to remain, for motivation to continue to abide, and of a spark of incentive to spur onward and forward.

It is only when the cornered animal is left with no route of escape, or when an enemy battalion can neither hope to survive nor be allowed to surrender, that an unimaginable end may be considered.

Hope is the flame that abides for humanity’s safeguarding of happiness; of escape, it is something we all do, and often to the detriment of relationships that we have.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from various medical conditions, such that those medical conditions continue to prevent or otherwise impede the Federal or Postal employee’s ability, capacity and resolve to perform all of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, the hope is always there that the medical condition will resolve itself, or that the doctors will come up with a new cure, or perhaps even that a miracle will occur that tonight’s dream will awaken to a pain-free tomorrow.

Short of that, however, the hope of escape means that the medical condition will continue, but the inability to perform one or more of the essential elements of the Federal or Postal job must be discontinued either through (a) resolution of the medical condition (unlikely), (b) accommodation by the Federal Agency or the Postal Service of the medical condition such that the Federal or Postal employee may continue to work (again, unlikely), (c) resignation or termination because of excessive use of leave, inability to maintain a regular work schedule, deterioration of the medical condition or being placed on a PIP (likely), or (d) file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, to be submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset (inevitably).

The hope of escape still abides; it is up to the Federal or Postal employee to initiate the hope by consulting with an attorney who specializes in preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, thus empowering a potential escape from the vicious cycle of work-related harassment, deterioration of one’s health, and the constant concern for the security of one’s future.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Medical Retirement from Federal Employment: The monster within

There are gargoyles we imagine, which are scarier than those in real life – unless we mean by them the ones who plan to do us harm (and not just murderers, rapists and other violators of the social contract scheme).  For the latter, we have laws, self-defensive mechanisms, and the ultimate justification for flight, and sometimes they work, at others, partially or not at all.  We can spend a lifetime fretting over the monsters without; it is those within – the former that haunts and never leaves the home of the mind – that destroy without a finger lifted.  For, in the end, it is fear that defeats, and that is well known by students of military strategy.

What weakness the adversary has, should be exploited tenfold as a vulnerability beyond the actual numbers; and what suspicion of doubt is kept in reserve, should be accessed and manipulated in order to magnify the exponential harm perpetrated by a cautious mind.  What looms large in one’s mind is quantitatively expanded despite arguments of logic, rationality and calm discourse; for, it is the imagination left untethered when the quiet of darkness falls upon a sleepless night, that the qualitative lack of focus begins to take shape in shadows unseen by a dawning light.

What can be more fearsome than that which we cannot control?  In reality, the circumstances that develop and unfold are mostly those that we have allowed for; in the creative recesses of our mental reserves, the expansive and uncontrolled destinies can never be curtailed, but have the limitless potential beyond any reality of sanity.  That is why the master torturer knows never to rush, and the interrogator recognizes the value of anticipation; of allowing the quiet fears to grow in the solitude of thought; and in the period between reality and imagination, the monster within can grow tenfold in untold features of taking on masks of fearful expressions and profiles of unfathomable terror.

How does one break that spell?  The shattering of an imagined fear is often tied to a fragile psyche that cannot be separated, and like conjoined twins who share a vital organ, should not be bifurcated but with surgical precision.  Fear is an interminable intrusion, unless and until the causative forces are intersected by an antidote which dissolves and dissipates.  The key is to find the antidote; and in the meantime, to hope that the elements of reality are not so traumatic as to overshadow the forces of psychic quietude.

For Federal employees who suffer from a medical condition, and Postal workers who similarly experience the pain of physical disabilities or psychiatric dysfunctions, the issue of when, how, and if one should file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, is intimately conjoined with the growing monster within, while battling the dual forces of antagonism and contentiousness from without.  For, it is often the Federal agency or the U.S. Postal Service which exacerbates the problems associated with a medical condition, which then further complicates and magnifies the monsters stirring within.

To resolve such a problem, the answer lies in the very preparation, formulation and filing of an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management; for, in the end, the monster within becomes resolved only when the gargoyles outside are dealt with, and for the Federal or Postal employee with a medical condition, that resolution is defined by obtaining a Federal Disability Retirement annuity, in order to be able to take the next steps to secure a hopeful future, beginning with the act of separating from that environment of the Federal agency or U.S. Postal Service which helps to create the monsters in the first place.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

FERS & CSRS Medical Retirement: The Corner Thought

Corners are creations of geometric amplitudes; we point and direct that some person, object or place is “just around the corner”, deferred from a reference point of equilibrium.  Furniture pieces fail to fit in them, unless they are specifically designed for that purpose; people congregate towards them, especially those at parties who desire a semblance of anonymity or quiet discretion; and we used to send bratty kids to sit and stare at the geometric arrowhead of oblivion, hoping that the boredom of such a consecrated space would straighten out their demented characters.

Thoughts, likewise, remain sweetly anonymous, unless of course one blurts out what previously existed in the quietude of consciousness, and even then, we remark that such declarations emitted from the hollow of one’s mouth were mere “thoughtlessness”, thus negating that very expression which just a short while ago remained unknown and unknowable, but in a flash of an instant, articulated in the shattered world of calm and noiseless space.

When space and conceptual expression combine to coalesce, we refer to it as “the corner thought”.  The corner thought is that conceptual construct which is relegated to a later time, pushed aside and reserved for a future date of uncertain pinpoints of time.  We often never get back to it.

Like the child scolded and told to “sit in the corner until you straighten up” (a self-contradiction, to be sure, when the geometric fold of the corner is the very place where one is expected to defy a character of misgivings), the corner thought is left like mold on a damp and forgotten shelf of books and backdoor alleys, where the trash is never picked up and the stench of leftovers become a natural compost of hidden regrets.  It is always that “corner thought” which one day must come back to haunt.

For the Federal employee or U.S. Postal worker who suffers silently in the angst of the Federal agency or the U.S. Postal Service, relegated to perennial “light duty” assignments, “modified” work duties, sudden and unexpected demands to appear for a “fitness for duty” examination, then never to be heard from again until some irritant of polluted thoughtlessness tramples in from the misery of unknown lives but to whom one must submit and be subservient because of a title imparted as “supervisor”, “manager” or just plain “boss”; that corner thought was always the one entitled, “Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management”.

When the medical condition first began to impact the Federal or Postal employee’s ability and capacity to perform the essential elements of one’s positional duties, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, the thought of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through OPM was at first nothing more than that “corner thought” which was pushed aside and asunder.  But as time went on, it became clear that the miscreant of unexpressed conceptual construct needed to be dusted off, brought back, and repositioned to take a more prominent placement in the covey of ideas to be considered.

Corners cannot, of themselves, instill character into wayward children; and thoughts cannot, left alone, compel purposive action without a corresponding will to act; and it is when the corner thought takes its proper role of relevant existence, that the directionless pointing to a reference “just around the corner” will one day become solidified into a concrete plan for some time hence, by preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to combine the separateness of the corner with the delay of thought, in order to embrace that corner thought for a secure future.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Disability Retirement: Beyond the Pablum of Life

Once a cereal brand, a glob of mush whose nutritional content was suspect at best, and the bland taste of which represented the monotony of modernity; now, it is mere pap, where the lack of substantive content belies the true nature of harm, insipid and incremental, creeping daily and slowly deteriorating.

Isn’t that how a medical condition destroys?  Yes, there are traumatic events — where loss of limb and even of life suddenly cuts short the vibrancy of a human narrative; but, mostly, it is that chronic, slow deterioration which eats away and the luster of living loses its sheen where being free of pain or anguish is the highlight of one’s linear form.  That is when life becomes a daily pablum of concocted innuendoes, where euphemisms prevail and the hidden struggle of daily toil results in the blandness of hourly refuting the refrain, “So, how is life?”

When trepidation and hesitation rules the day the ruing the day becomes the pablum of living, like the tablet and chalkboard which has been overused and the residue of erasures remains no matter how hard we try and scuff them out, then it is time to consider a change of venue, of volatility, and of value.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition prevents the Federal or Postal worker from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal positional duties, it may be time to try and get beyond the pablum of life’s misgivings.

Yes, 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, may be a difficult path to take, especially in light of leaving behind a list of accomplishments, awards and accolades; but if the choice of staying and being harassed, intimidated, constantly put down and shoved aside are no longer clear indicators of a future unwelcome and unwelcoming, then there can be no better alternative to embrace.

Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through OPM can be an administrative and bureaucratic nightmare; but where the flashpoint of one’s Federal or Postal career has long passed, it is time to consider getting beyond the pablum of life, and to formulate a strategy where the vibrancy of a once-promising future takes on the sheen now lost, the energy long depleted, and the recovery of which guides one towards a better tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill
FERS Disability Attorney