Federal Disability Retirement: Those Welcome Distractions

Filing for a Federal Disability Retirement through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is a step which admits of a stark reality:  One’s medical condition has come to a point of irreversible deterioration, such that the impact upon one’s ability to continue in one’s chosen career now manifests itself to a degree which can no longer be concealed.

Interludes of distractions in life — whether a holiday, a period of inclement weather; perhaps a child’s sports event; or even watching the Olympics on television with one’s family; all such distractions allowed for needed interruptions and delays in facing the harsh reality of one’s situation, and each such delay allowed for procrastination and avoidance of the issues.  But at some point, the decision has to be made, and when one runs out of such welcome distractions, the pragmatic steps in order to successfully file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits must be systematically considered.

How and when to approach one’s treating doctor to garner the necessary support; the timing of informing one’s agency; a careful study of the factual and legal criteria necessary to qualify for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether under FERS or CSRS; obtaining legal advice, guidance and representation; the time involved; the costs involved; making the adjustments for one’s future, etc.

Life’s distractions are small pockets of delights; but when the distractions detract from making important decisions, it is time to reconsider the prioritization matrix upon which one’s foundation is built.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

CSRS & FERS Medical Disability Retirement: The Difficulty of Making the Decision

In preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS from the Office of Personnel Management, it is often the mental act of deciding to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits which is the most difficult to make.  

For, while the actual mechanics of the entire process — of obtaining an attorney (if that has been decided), gathering the necessary medical narratives and supporting documentation; of facing the harsh reality of writing the Applicant’s Statement of Disability (following the format of Standard Form 3112A) and reading about the impact of one’s medical conditions and the direct nexus to one’s inability to perform the essential elements of one’s job — of actually outlining and delineating the symptomatologies resulting from the singular or multiple diagnosed medical conditions; of approaching and having the supervisor complete a Supervisor’s Statement; of essentially declaring to the Agency that you are no longer capable or able to perform one or more of the essential elements of the job, thereby confirming what many at the Agency probably already suspected — all of these “mechanical” aspects of the preparation, formulation and filing of a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS, while difficult, pale in comparison to the singular act which propels and initiates the entire process:  that of deciding to move forward.  For, as an old proverb states:  To lift a finger without thought is merely an act; to move with thought only a conscious event; to think, to plan, and then to engage in action, is the essence of man’s strength.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire