FERS Disability Retirement: The Unwritten Last chapter

In one sense, of course, the last chapter has already been written for everyone — for, mortality imposes an identical outcome for all, and no matter the attempts of delay or circumvent that ultimate outcome, by artificial means of making one’s appearance younger than one’s stated age or by cellular-regenerative methods like exercise and good diet, etc., in the end, all such attempts are ultimately futile and we must all succumb to the natural deterioration and decay of our physical existence.

But it is in the “how” of mortality’s inevitability which makes for the uniqueness of that last unwritten chapter for each of us; of how the dusk’s phase of life was lived, the wisdom gained and imparted prior to departure, and what lasting legacy was left for those whose lives have many more chapters left to be written.

Is it with a bang or a whimper?  How many friends and family gather about to say farewell?  What stories and memories hold sway in the final paragraphs?

For many, applying for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is tantamount to writing the last unwritten chapter of one’s life — if only because it always feels like the end of something significant; and indeed, it is an “important next phase” in one’s life — but it need not be the last unwritten chapter, but instead, the first in a series within a new beginning.

FERS Disability Retirement secures one’s financial future so that many more future chapters may be added in the coming years, including beginning a new career, going back to school, or traveling the world over.  Contact a FERS Disability Lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and consider whether the unwritten last chapter in your life might not be the first chapter in a new and exciting novel at the dawn of your life.

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.

 

OPM Disability Retirement: The Preemptive Argument

There is always the danger accompanying it — That the presupposition was unfounded and you may be pointing out a problem that the other side never thought of.  We are all aware of what assumptions can lead to, and so to make a preemptive argument is to enter into dangerous waters where unseen dangers may lurk.

How does one make the right decision as to whether to include the preemptive argument and how prominently should one make it?  Such a question presupposes a cost-benefits analysis — of first determining how likely the other side will recognize certain weaknesses in your position, then providing the preemptive counterpoint accordingly.

In preparing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS, whether at the initial Stage or at the responsive Reconsideration Stage of the process, the point of making a preemptive argument depends upon the purpose for which you are making it.

For, at the Initial Stage of the process, you should make such an argument in an understated manner, all the while emphasizing the overall strength of the case; whereas, in responding to an OPM Denial and providing a responsive legal memorandum, any preemptive argument should be made both as a response to OPM as well as a preemptive appeal to an Administrative Judge at the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) — in other words, the elaboration of an anticipatory argument, presuming that OPM is likely to deny the case a second time, as well.

All preemptive arguments possess inherent dangers, but as OPM systematically engages in a shotgun-scattering approach in justifying its denial of a Federal Disability Retirement Application, it is likely that any preemptive argument is in little danger of bringing up any surprises which OPM hadn’t considered, anyway.

Consider contacting a FERS Attorney to prepare and formulate an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS, especially when formulating a cogent argument of preemptive significance.

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 Application: Surprises

Some are welcome (e.g., birthday parties; finding something you thought had been lost; morning licks from a puppy; and other such commonplace but unexpected events); others, less so (an unplanned expense; a car running a red light in your lane of travel; a medical event, etc.).  Whether most are truly surprises is questionable, as opposed to merely occurring in the midst of being disorganized or lacking foresight.

It is, in the end, how one reacts to the event which determines the substance of the surprise.  Some go through life in a state of unemotional aplomb; others, where everything and anything is excitable and thus constitutes a self-described, breathless “surprise”, as in: “Oh, I was soooo, soooo surprised by it all!”  And “It was just so surprising!”

Such unexpected events make for life’s interesting challenges; but of medical conditions unexpected — they are the least welcome, and the most disturbing, despite the fact that as we grow older, we should all expect our bodies to deteriorate, our minds to wane, our health to decline.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the surprise no longer allows you to perform all of the essential elements of your Federal or Postal job, the one surprise which should not occur is this: Part of your employment “package” includes Federal Disability Retirement benefits, and you should be able to access such benefits.  However, as with all things in life, the “fine print” of the benefit may be somewhat of a surprise — in that you have to “prove” your case, and such proof can be varied, numerous and complex.

Contact a lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and minimize any further surprises in preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS, through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), by having an experienced FERS Disability Attorney represent you throughout the bureaucratic process of endless surprises.

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.

 

OPM Disability Retirement Benefits: Spare Me the Grief

How much of life is lived precisely because of needing to deflect the “grief” of something?  Or, of the corollary truth: How much of life is NOT lived by delegating the grief to a third party?

Then, you must separate and distinguish those things which are merely a “bother” from those which require specialized help.

Maybe cutting the grass takes up too much valuable time, and so you might hire a landscaping or grass cutting company to perform that chore, justifying the expense by pointing out that more quality “family time” could be reserved (as you then go out the back door to take in a couple of rounds of golf).  Or of hiring a cleaning service; taking your car to a car wash; hiring a lawyer.

Wait!  Are lawyers relegated to the same category as landscapers and car washes?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition no longer allows you to perform all of the essential elements of your Federal or Postal job, contact an OPM Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law.

The OPM Disability Lawyer who specializes in FERS Federal Disability Retirement Law may not wash your car or cut your grass, but he will surely guide you through the complex administrative process of getting you something more than a gleaming vehicle or a pristine lawn: A Federal Disability Retirement annuity.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Lawyer

 

Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) Disability Retirement: The Vanishing Point

If you are old enough, you know the reference to the 1971 “cult” movie.  It had a strange ending, and allowed for lengthy discussions which meandered into the apparent profundity of pure pablum.  In the end, it was just a “fun” movie.

In reality, the vanishing point occurs daily.  As one grows older, you come across people you once knew but who have “passed on”.  We antiseptically and euphemistically apply the careful language of avoidance, but the blunt truth is that people die or move out of our frame of reference every day.

The vanishing point includes many aspects of one’s daily life: The family dog that dies; the elderly parents who pass on; the coworker who suddenly quits and is never heard from again; the guy across the office who becomes hospitalized and never comes back, etc.

It is the “etc.” which is the reality of life — we all move on; it’s always the other person who is somehow left behind.  That was another one of those movies, wasn’t it?  “Left Behind” — a movie and series about the biblical concept of the apocalypse and people being left behind.  The fact is, the “vanishing point” begins long before a person is left behind; we just don’t know the private struggles which are being faced throughout.

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 “vanishing point” has already begun.  It began with the medical condition.

Contact a FERS Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement, and begin the process of validating the vanishing point from your job by initiating the administrative process of filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Lawyer
Postal & Federal Employee Retirement Attorney

 

FERS Disability Retirement for Federal & Postal Employees: Traps

We set them in order to get rid of those undesirable creatures which scurry about in the middle of the night.  There are, of course, multiple and different kinds of traps — of the ones which snap loudly in the darkness of deep quietude and which are difficult to “set” because — every time you put it along the baseboard — the sensitive nature of the “catch” sets it off.

There are, of course, those “humane” ones — the ones which do not kill but mere captures the creature with the mechanism of a trap door.  What you do with the creature is up to you — but most suspect that when you let it go down the sewer drain just down the road, it quickly makes its way back to your home (often before you yourself are back in the front door declaring, “Honey, I got rid to it!”).

Then, of course, there are the large “traps” — for possums, squirrels and other rodent-like creatures which have created a nuisance of themselves in suburban neighborhoods which no longer tolerate the encroachment of nature.  But enough of such rodent-focused traps.

There are other kinds of traps — traps set by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, in preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS.  Just look at the innocuous-looking questions posited on SF 3112A, Applicant’s Statement of Disability.  In the end, it is the traps which cannot easily be seen, or the ones which seem attractively safe, which catches you.

Contact a FERS Disability Retirement Lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and prepare your Federal Disability Retirement application while avoiding those traps which invitingly are set for your naive notions of the process.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Medical Retirement for Federal Employees: Waves of Misfortune

Metaphors allow us to understand our circumstances; by relating the circumstance to the natural world around us, we feel a greater kinship when, in all other aspects of our lives, we have tried to alienate ourselves and artificially separate our lives from the origins of our own existence.  Similes, of course, always contain the comparative contrast that allows for a space between that which is compared and the reality of “what is”.

Thus, to say that “X is like Y” is quite different from saying that “X is Y”, even though we know in both instances that X is not Y, and that is precisely why we assert that there is a likeness between X and Y (because “likeness” is not the same as “sameness”) and also why we declare X to be Y even though they are not one and the same.  Thus is there a difference between “Waves of misfortune” (a metaphor) and “Misfortune are like waves” (a simile).

The comparative preposition creates a once-removed parallelism (simile), whereas the metaphor makes no doubt of the mirror image of one with the other.

Medical conditions are more like metaphors (here, we are utilizing a simile to describe a metaphor); there is no space or removal between the situations being compared.  To have a medical condition is not “like” something else; rather, it is the reality of one’s existence.  It is through metaphors, however, as well as similes that we describe the symptoms to our doctors and others, to try and help them understand what it is like to be in constant pain, to be depressed, to be profoundly fatigued.

And for Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition necessitates preparing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to be submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, it must be understood that the Federal Disability Retirement “package” is a paper presentation to OPM, and thus must by necessity use both metaphors and similes in order to persuade OPM of having met the legal criteria of a FERS Disability Retirement application.

The “waves of misfortune” must be described persuasively, lest they become a metaphor for failure in preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application that results in a denial as opposed to an approval.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

FERS Medical Retirement: Disregarded Voices

We disregard them at our own peril; but, then, that is the very point of it, isn’t it?

To disregard is to deliberately ignore, based upon the erroneous belief that to live in ignorance is to embrace a state of bliss, as knowledge is the pathway taken by the original sin of the apple.  Safety is sought in silence; comfort, in the monotony of unreflected misgivings.  We disregard because it is convenient to do so.

Signs of an impending problem, we may ignore by choice as a way of procrastinating the inevitable; or even the nagging sense that something is about to occur — we disregard that voice of reason because, to listen to that voice would require the greater effort of considering the future.

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 job, to disregard the many voices competing for your attention is a sure pathway to disaster.

Consider those voices: The agency’s voice warning of adverse actions; the doctor’s voice warning of health consequences; your family’s voices of concern; and most importantly, your own voice that admits that change must by necessity come about. Federal Disability Retirement is an option that should be considered when all of those voices come about in a coordinated chorus of concern: Seek the voice of an experienced attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and begin to regard those disregarded voices — today.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Medical Retirement for Federal Employees: The real me

Are there societies in which the non-existence of the concept of “self” reveals a qualitative difference in approaching life in general?  Does the fact that language embraces the singular personal pronoun in contradistinction to the plural, communal form (i.e., “we” or “us”) make a difference in the manner in which we see the world?

If “I” as the subject/nominative form or the “me” as the objective (accusative and dative form) were to be expunged from the English Lexicon, would the universe be shaken and the axis upon which rotation occurs be shattered such that earth would no longer remain as we have known it?  Or — beyond the modernity of linguistic philosophy, where there are no substantive philosophical problems which cannot be solved by Wittgensteinian means of clarifying, modifying or overhauling the language game utilized — will we merely go on as before and act “as if” the “I” and “me” did not exist, but carry on for selfish purposes, anyway?

There is always that hankering by each one of us that “if only…”.  If only people knew the “real me”; if only she could recognize the uniqueness of the “I” that doesn’t quite come out right because of my nervousness, shyness, etc.  If only the boss knew; if only my wife knew; if only my husband knew….

The cynic, of course, would counter with: Good thing no one knows the real you….  Or, is it really just another form of the philosophical conundrum that we have cornered ourselves into — sort of like Ryle’s “Ghost in the Machine” argument where Cartesian dualism doesn’t exist, and so there is no “real me” beneath the surface of what we present to the world — that, in fact, we really are boorish, one-dimensional and unsophisticated creatures who put on a good show, and that is all there is to the “I” and “me”: A composite of the Neanderthal who puts on a necktie and pronounces words and phrases in monosyllabic forms of grunts and groans?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition and who must consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the real “I” or “me” is certainly not the person whom the Agency has tagged as “less than whole” because of the medical condition itself.

Yet, that is how the Federal Agency and the Postal unit will often approach the unfortunate circumstances of the Federal employee or Postal worker who reveals an intent to file for OPM Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.  No longer as part of the “we” or “us” team of Federal employees or Postal workers, the Federal Disability Retirement applicant is often shunned and sequestered, and generally harassed and placed under administrative sanctions — merely for revealing a vulnerability resulting from a medical condition.

That is essentially where the problem of the “real me” resides: Of how we pigeonhole one another.

To avoid that as much as possible, it is a good idea to consult with an Attorney who Specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, to fight back against the notion of the real me that the Federal Agency or the Postal Service wants to depict, as that malingering worker who once was X, but is now seen as Y.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Filing for OPM Disability Retirement: Palatable possibilities

We often hear of that which is “possible”, then immediately pause to consider the probabilities of such declared possibilities.  For, isn’t it possible that there are martians on the far side of the moon, or that we all live in a dream, dreamt by the fragile whisperings of a butterfly, or that everything that we see, hear and experience is just nothing more than pure bosh, and Bertrand Russell was quite right after all, that our rumblings of metaphysical yearnings were merely a result of a stomach virus that needed an antacid to cure?

At what point are possibilities presented no longer palatable, and where are the limits of our imaginations such that reality clashes with fantasy and the medium between the two becomes so stretched that we cannot fathom their practical effects?  Have we come to a point now where supermarket tabloids are just as believable as mainline newspapers that cross the thresholds between truth and opinion?  Is virtual reality just as pleasurable as “real” reality, and does the realness of reality depend merely upon one’s perspective and opinion and how we view things?

Then, of course, there is the reality of a medical condition, and everything comes crashing down into a singular reality: mortality and health tend to bring us “back to the basics”.

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 job, what possibilities are palatable; whether possibilities presented are meaningful; it all comes down to the pragmatic choices from three: Stay, walk away or file 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.

The real possibilities in life are generally quite simple; it is the luxury of the healthy to entertain the greater expanse of palatable possibilities, but for the Federal or Postal employee who is faced with a chronic and progressively debilitating medical condition, the choices are stark and limited.  It is within those limitations that the palatable possibilities must be carefully chosen, and such course of actions to be chosen should be advised and guided by a consultation with an attorney who specializes in OPM Disability Retirement, lest the palatable possibilities turn out to be an unpalatable probability chosen out of a mistaken belief in the existence of palatable possibilities.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire