Long-Term Disability Federal & Postal Employees: The Doors of Distractions

We have inadvertently invited the doors of distraction to not only open, but to continually remain open.  It is like the machine created by someone, and now we have forgotten how to switch the machine off, let alone recall where the switch is located.

Can any of us read a novel, or any book, anymore, without looking at our Smart Phone every few minutes?  Or, even if we remember to put our phone somewhere away from our immediate proximity with the view that such a foolish preventive measure will allow us to have enhanced focus and concentration, how often do we nevertheless pause and wonder, “Did I hear a notification of some sort”?

We appease the self-evident damage to the re-wiring of the brain by claiming that, “Oh, isn’t it wonderful how we can multi-task with such efficiency?” — when, in fact, it is merely a frenzy of distractions which continually limits and restricts our ability to remain focused upon any single endeavor, at the expense of being perpetually distracted without accomplishing a single thing.

The doors of distraction are now fully opened, and for Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition itself is also another door of distraction, you should contact a FERS attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law.

With the counsel and guidance of a Federal lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law exclusively, you may be able to retire medically and, at least, close that particular door of distraction.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Lawyer
Federal Disability Retirement Attorney

    

Federal & Postal Worker Disability Retirement: Diversions

Watching sports is a diversion; reading, writing (no, for most of us, engaging in arithmetic is not a diversion, or at least not a pleasant one); taking a drive, engaging in some artistic endeavor like painting, woodcraft, batiking (or the more simple form of tie-dying that we all did as children); they all divert our attention away from life’s difficulties, challenges and general unpleasantries diffusely appropriated by mere happenstance of “living”.

Is it the diversion that makes the rest of it all worthwhile, or is it the daily grind which makes it worthwhile such that we can engage in those moments of diversions which takes us out of the monotony of repetitive consistency?  Do we need diversions?  Did everyone, all the time, throughout history, forever and a day always engage in diversionary activities?  Or, was there a time in the pure state of nature where survival was always at a cost of constant vigilance, and where diversions were considered as potentially dangerous activities leading to death?

Fortunately, modernity has engendered an unspoken truce — where busy-ness prevails for 5 days of the week, with the sixth being set aside for chores and the seventh (isn’t that what God ordained?) as a day of rest, or for diversions diversely dignified in dapper dalliances of discursive delightfulness (sorry for the alliteration, but it cannot be resisted unless relatively reorganized for really rotten reasons).  Excuse the diversion of amusing myself.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition itself becomes the primary diversion, it is likely time to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.  Diversions are ultimately meant for relaxation; medical conditions are “anything but” that.

Consult with an attorney who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement Law, lest the diversions that were meant to help us escape from the harshness of the work-a-day world becomes instead another reality of debilitating consequences.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Medical Retirement for Federal Employees: The Past Upon Present

The guru dressed in flowing white garb may claim that the past is a fiction; those various “self-help” books will often declare that time is merely a continuum where we can only control that which is in the immediacy of our presence; and various philosophers have stated that the relativity of time must always be seen from the perspective of the “now”.

There is no doubt, however, that in the practical work-world, the past remains within the purview of haunting consequences.  Whether of youthful indiscretions or a darker past of substantial historical relevance more than a mere raising of one’s eyebrow, past performance is often used as an indicator of present behavior and conduct.  If a person has been convicted of embezzlement, does one consider that past in hiring practices for positions of responsibility — especially where money is involved?

Those who wave off the relevance of such considerations simply do not live in the real world.  We cannot avoid our past anymore than others will ignore it.  And so it is in Federal Disability Retirement Law, where the U.S. Office of Personnel Management will often place undue weight upon Performance Appraisals, cash bonus issues and whether there have been any deficiencies in performance, conduct or attendance in assessing and evaluating a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS.

Consult with a FERS Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law before initiating a process where your past may not be your best friend or, even if it is, whether you may yet be stabbed in the back — metaphorically speaking, of course.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire 
FERS Disability Retirement Lawyer

  

Disability Retirement under FERS: Balancing the Unfair Advantage

It is the advantage itself — whether by one side or of the other — which creates an imbalance to occur, and it is thus the greater weight on either side defines and constitutes the unfairness of it all.  A weighted scale; a pair of loaded dice (it was once the case that such a phrase — “pair of dice” — was unnecessary, because the singular of “dice” was die, and to identify ”dice” was to necessarily state the obvious that it was a pair; but in Modern Standard English, the word “dice” now represents both the singular as well as the plural; but we digress); a biased referee; a bribed umpire — do these all have something in common?

No, this is not an IQ Test (remember those questions where you are given a series of words and you had to either choose the one that would fit into the same category or exclude the one that was a misfit?), but it does symbolize the state of affairs in so much of life.

Where unfairness abounds, it is often the concealed aspect which tips the balance in favor of one side or another.  Thus do politicians allow for silent exceptions within the detailed language of legislation; undeclared biases determine advantages otherwise unidentified; insider information gives the unfair advantage to stock traders and members on financial boards and subcommittees; and the team which steals the rubric of the other’s signals and signs gains the advantage both in predicting future behaviors and battles.

In law, who has the unfair advantage?  Is it the entity who fails to explicitly define the criteria which determines success?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition prevents the Federal employee from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, just remember that filing a Federal Disability Retirement application guarantees nothing.

The legal criteria inherent in the process; the administrative procedures which must be advanced; the supporting documentation that must be submitted; the answers on standard forms which must be completed — these are all within the purview of knowledge by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and is not easily comprehended by the unwary applicant.

Seek the counsel and guidance of a FERS Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and begin to balance the unfair advantage that OPM naturally and already possesses.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Disability Retirement under FERS: Forgotten Lives

Is it the memory that retains importance, or the fear that erasure leads to irrelevance that motivates us to prevent forgotten lives?  Does imprint upon history — whether in a footnote or an “honorable mention” in the epitaph of an unvisited tombstone — mean so much?  Does a reference in a Wikipedia listing count as a counter to a life lived in anonymity?

Most of us accept that we will not leave behind a greater imprint upon history’s rising trash heap of honorable mentions; and, except for dinner conversations amidst family gatherings, where someone might bring up a story that begins with, “Hey, remember when Uncle X was with us, the time when…” — we are left to memories forever fading and references served only by the ivy that grows over graveyards left unattended.

How important is it to maintain a semblance of relevance in a world where the 15-second timeframe of fame and one’s forever-statement of contribution to society keeps getting shortened because of the need to move on to the next and more titillating cause of excitement?

One wonders whether a person clings to doing something merely in order to avoid erasure from existence from the memories of those engaged.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition impacts the Federal or Postal employee’s ability and capacity to continue working in the chosen field in the Federal or Postal sector of employment, the issue of making a decision to prepare, formulate and file an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS is often inextricably tied to the emotional upheaval of forgotten lives.

When one’s purpose and motivation for daily living is so intertwined with one’s career, work and the daily relevance of a mission yet to be accomplished, it is a difficult step to take, to recognize that one’s contribution to society may be coming to an end, resulting in forgotten lives and erasure from relevance.

But always remember that priorities must always be assigned, and the priority of one’s health comes before any fear of an honorable mention in a Wikipedia footnote, and just as there is life after a career with the Federal government, so it is also true that history is replete with the unnamed and unmentioned contributions of forgotten lives forever extinguished.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire