OPM Disability Retirement under FERS: The Why and How

Science can only ever tell us “The how”, but never the “Why”.  The latter can only be answered by an appeal to a transcendence of Being, going beyond the physical universe.

The human species possesses an inherent need for the “Why” of this world — one needs only to look at a young child who keeps asking, “Why does…” in an endless, repetitive way to realize that satisfaction of the query cannot be accommodated by mechanical explanations, but must always return to first principles, and often intrude into a spiritual realm.

Without that aspect of life, we are reduced to clusters of molecules and cellular blobs. Shakespeare disappears and love dissolves, and we devolve into evolutionary structures of pointless existence.

Logical arguments attempting to reduce everything to scientific explanations miss the point:  For, it fails to consider how the “why” came about.  Why do we even need the rules of logic?    How we come into being is always the minor premise of life; it is the “Why” which forever remains the major premise, which we all must ask and answer in seeking to live a meaningful existence.

For Federal and Postal employees suffering from a medical condition which necessitates filing for FERS Disability Retirement through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, being befuddled as to the “How” of the process is understandable.

You likely have already answered the “Why” of the process, as in “Why has this happened”, or “Why do I need to file?”— but it is the “How” in this case —the minor premise of the process which still requires the explanation.  And that is understandable, precisely because we live in a physical universe, and more importantly, a bureaucratic world.

Contact today a FERS Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and get the answers to the “How” of the retirement process, while leaving aside the “Why” of the process for the individual Federal and Postal employee to answer.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill
FERS Lawyer exclusively representing Federal and Postal employees to secure their Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

 

OPM Disability Retirement Law: To Remain Relevant

What does it take to remain relevant?  To begin with, what does it mean to “be relevant”?

Certainly, the grade schooler who sits in the middle of the class but is rarely, if ever, recognized, is not “relevant” to the greater perspective of society in general.  Yes, yes — each child is unique and made in the image of … (the ellipsis is meant to convey the reality that many of society no longer believes this, but that the pablum of the statement itself is reiterated in nauseous excesses of emptiness, forever with the requirement of nodding heads in agreement despite its acknowledged vacuity of meaning).

On the other end of the spectrum, if you are shuttered away in a nursing home with only minimal times of punctuated visits by relatives, it is likely that everyone would agree that you are no longer “relevant”.  Here again, there will be loud and vociferous protestations — that grandpa was a war veteran and gave great contributions to society; that grandma was the treasurer of some civic organization “in her time”, etc.  But the mere fact that old people get shoved into nameless nursing homes is, in and of itself, a validation of categorizing the person as “irrelevant”.

No one likes to hear about such things in such harsh and blunt terms, but the fact is that modernity is only concerned with the superficiality of youth and beauty as the criterion for relevancy, which is precisely why younger and younger children “act out” and older and older irrelevant men and women keep going back to the plastic surgeon to remain relevant.

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, to “remain relevant” is to hold onto the job and ignore one’s progressively deteriorating medical condition.  Or, that is often what the Federal or Postal employee believes.

The better way is to stop being part of the herd mentality, and ignore the societal constructs of what it is to “remain relevant”.

Consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and move forward beyond the daily grind of trying to remain relevant.  Contact an OPM Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement, and move forward in your life by creating your own definition of relevancy.

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 Employee Disability Retirement: What we Seek

Can everyone’s desire be placed under a single rubric, a single conceptual umbrella which captures the essence of human want?  Is it happiness we all seek?  A sense of security, or perhaps of joy, contentment, peace or love?

And if we were to all agree concerning the single most important goal for which we seek and strive, would we agree as to the definition of what it all means to each of us?  If of happiness, what would constitute the particulars of it?  For some, perhaps unlimited wealth?  For others, of love, endless satisfaction, or a single lifelong partner to share one’s dreams and aspirations?

What about for the person who suffers from a medical condition — perhaps of being “pain free” is what he or she would seek?  Of “good health” — is it something which we all seek but often take for granted and overlook?

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 job, what is sought is often a return to health.  Federal Disability Retirement is one component of a wide variety of elements which assists in returning to a level of health, by relieving the stresses inherent in attempting to juggle work and health-issues.

While filing for FERS Disability Retirement benefits may not be the final goal or solution to that which we seek, it is one component within the multiple elements which make up for the array of those things we seek.

Consult with a FERS attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law in order to attain and satisfy at least one of those components.  It is, in the end, an often-overlooked element necessary as a prerequisite for any of those other human goals — whether of happiness, contentment, peace or joy; and even of love.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Disability Retirement: Identifying the time for change

At what point does a person finally realize that it is time for a change?  That things cannot go on “as is” much longer, and certain modifications, “accommodations” (there’s that fearful word, again) and alterations must occur, or else you feel that your head will explode or something dire will suddenly befall.  Inside, daily, your thoughts turn to the knowledge that “this cannot go on forever”, and that something must occur.  But what?

Then, the voice of hope keeps whispering that, well, perhaps circumstances will change, alterations to the objective universe may come about in the morning thereafter, and the world will somehow shift and things will get better.

We have been fed upon from infancy until the cold winds of adulthood that folklore and fairytales occur, but the reality is that unless we initiate the pathways of change, they rarely occur except in fables of miracles and mythologies told in dusty old books.

First, it should be clear that the need for change has already been identified when one recognizes that it is time for change.  That identification, however, is often not enough.  For, it is the further sub-identification in recognizing what it is that needs change, and more importantly, why?

If the reasons underlying the need are within the purview of one’s control and destiny of choices being made, then the second step in the process can be initiated by the need identified.  That is the critical juncture in the decision-making process: Of identification, the reason, the underlying need, and then the steps taken to initiate the change in order to satisfy the need identified.

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 need for change often comes about incrementally, insidiously and without great fanfare.

The “need for change” can often come at a critical juncture where frustration of a sense of impending doom collide, and necessity arises because no other alternative pathways appear to exist.  Moreover, it is the identification of the time for change that is often overlooked — that point in life where one is scrambling about desperately not quite knowing the “why” of the need, but only that it must come about.

Speaking to an experienced attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement law may be the first step in sorting it all out.  For the Federal or Postal employee who must by necessity consider filing a Federal Disability Retirement application , the need for change is likely now; identifying the time for change may only require the time it takes to have an initial consultation with a lawyer who has guided many Federal and Postal employees through this process before.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Lawyer Representation Federal Disability Retirement: Other worlds

We can imagine other worlds in which things are different; science fiction does it all the time, and even traditional literary fiction – though the differentiation between “science fiction” and “regular fiction” can often be lost in esoteric and academic ways – can depict other worlds not quite familiar, though recognizable enough to keep it apart from fantasy or that of the bizarre.

We can imagine, for instance, a world in which a pot of water sits upon a burning stove, but the pot never boils because the heat from the burner never transfers its element to the water; and so the isolation of each entity remains unmoved, as each fails to influence the other.  Or, that rain falls, but nothing gets wet.  What about people?  Of a persons who talks and talks and everyone hears, but no impact results.  You say to your friend, “A skunk has climbed up on top of your head,” and the friend responds, “Yes, thank you,” but does nothing and goes on with his or her life.

It would be a universe where we are consumed and subsumed within the universe of our own thoughts, and the world around us remains separate, isolated and without influence upon entities remaining placid, implacable, undisturbed and without any capacity to embrace the causality of an effect that remains otherwise unperturbed.

Come to think of it, that somewhat describes the world we actually live in, doesn’t it?  It started out as some science fiction genre – other worlds – and yet the universe that was described, of a world where people talk and no one listens, others hurt and no one helps, and the gravitational pull remains isolated to the planets within a galaxy, but never extending beyond to the human lives that populate this earth.  Isn’t that what occurs in this world, today?

People lie to themselves thinking that they have hundreds of “friends”, and yet sit alone in an apartment staring at a glowing piece of machine called a computer, and converse quietly on Facebook and through other social media outlets, yet never say a word; and the “conversations” on the medium are merely a series of rants and raves, and at the end of the late evening, everyone goes home.  People live with great wealth – of extravagance of living never seen heretofore in this or any other universe – while others barely make a living; and the impact felt moves not a teardrop or a sigh of resignation.

Federal and Postal employees live in such a universe, especially when a medical condition begins to impact the Federal or Postal employee’s ability and capacity to perform all of the essential elements of his or her Federal or Postal position.  The agency doesn’t care; the postal facility is indifferent; no one says, “Ah, we need to do everything to help you out so that you can get better!”  Instead, we rely upon quiet laws to be enforced, so that our “rights” can be protected and compelled.

Other worlds are not mere fantasies that we dream up; and for the Federal or Postal employee who must take the next step in preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, welcome to the bizarre universe of an administrative process that cares little about injured or hurting people, but one in which the cold bureaucracy of laws and rights must be enforced in order to assert that which remains unmovable in the face of a medical condition that won’t go away.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement through OPM: Major Depressive Disorder

The Internet allows for everyone to have access to information; what it does not do, is to methodologically assure the sequencing of accuracy, legitimacy, or even of relevance in the wide dissemination of “it”.  One thing is clear, however; the society as a whole has changed; but whether such alteration of human interaction has been a positive ingredient, or one which will have lasting determinants of destructive tendencies, only time will tell.

The pendulum of history swings widely and with slow, deliberative force; years ago, there was a time when the hint of psychiatric conditions resulted in the shunning of individuals; the taboo of Freudian caricatures still resided, and acceptance of its legitimacy still questioned.  Today, there is acceptance, yes, but ignorance is never erased, and pervasive opinions amounting to a level of ridicule seems to insidiously creep in, of a perspective that as every other person on the street is on prozac or some form of psychotropic medication, so the ancillary consequence of that is to denigrate the seriousness of a clinically diagnosed psychiatric condition.  If everything is something, then all somethings becomes nothing, as all somethings become equalized in the morass of everything-ness.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from Major Depressive Disorder (or a combination of that, as well as other psychiatric disorders which often link to, accompany and present co-occurrences), the lack of understanding or empathy by coworkers, and suspicions created in the workplace, become palpable.

We like to think that society has progressed to a point of an evolutionary pinnacle, but the fact is that as more information is disseminated and made available, the loss of esotericism seems to have a negative impact.  Encounters often unveil the ignorance of societal biases:  most people still hold on to the view that, if only you “pulled yourself up by the bootstraps”, that somehow you can overcome your sadness and state of malaise.  But the clinical diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder is nothing like that (with attendant co-diagnoses, often, of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, etc.).

It is a malaise beyond mere episodic sadness; with overwhelming loss of value of life, and of uncontrollable sense of hopelessness and helplessness.  It is, for Federal and Postal workers, a legitimate basis for filing a 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.

Whatever those busybody neighbors have said or not; of those inconsequential cracks by coworkers or ignoramuses; the fact is, Major Depressive Disorder is a serious psychiatric condition of epic proportions, and one which debilitates an individual.  But there is a conceptual distinction, as always, to be made between having a medical condition, and proving that medical condition to OPM in an effective Federal Disability Retirement application.

It is the latter which must be considered when preparing, formulating and filing for OPM Medical Retirement; as to the former, continued treatment with pharmacologic and therapeutic intervention is the favored path, and never to fret alone in the abyss of one’s own wisdom.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire