OPM Medical Retirement: The Long, Hard Slog

Much of life can be characterized as such, and those unwilling to endure the concept are either left behind or end in interminable voids of unsolvable problems.  The slog itself is long, hard and uninteresting — one of making it through the day, of life activities, lacking meaning or substance, often unexciting and barely tolerable.

Especially in this country, where we have lost any sense of community, and we barely even know our neighbors, leaving aside our own family.  Life becomes a long, hard slog when relationships break down and we come to believe that “meaning” is attached to objects and possessions, or in having a “cause” to believe in.

Like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill only to see it roll back down the other side, we wonder perpetually and question daily the meaning of it all.

We have abandoned the idea of  “the true, the beautiful, and the good” — the triadic concept which can be traced back to Plato paralleling the fields of knowledge, art, and morality, essentially encompassing the Western Philosophical tradition which provided the foundation of our educational system.

However, since we no longer believe in truth, have denigrated art, and abandoned morality, we are left with an anarchy of thoughtless vacuity where we are each isolated by the grandness of our own opinions.  Everywhere the seams of civilization appear to be unraveling, and we are left alone with the hard and long slog.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal employees who suffer from a chronic illness or injury which further complicates and exacerbates the long hard slog, it must be understood that the process of attempting to be approved for FERS Disability Retirement benefits itself is a long bureaucratic slog itself — a reflective microcosm of the greater societal long slog, and it must be viewed as such if you are to survive the battles ahead.

In preparing for that long and hard slog, you may want to contact an OPM Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and consider what it will take to prepare of the long administrative slog of trying to win the battle against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under FERS laws.

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 Medical Retirement: Learning for a Lifetime

Life is tough.  There is no shortcut — at least, not for the most part.  Yes, yes, every now and again, a person wins the lottery, or there is a story about someone inadvertently wandering into a maze of success without a clue in the world — but even those people, well, does a clueless person ever attain a level of consciousness which encompasses a knowledge of the clue?

Learning is a lifetime endeavor.  Yes, life is hard, and the need to learn never ceases.  Whether for enhancement of a chosen career or for personal growth, “ever learning” should be a mantra embraced and instilled from birth.  As evolution is part of the genetic make-up of every species, so for humans, learning for a lifetime is a necessity which should be maintained as a daily routine in one’s life.

Always have a book within reach; whether a novel — for, novels reveal the culture’s current narrative of its relevance within a society; a historical account — perhaps of other civilizations, or a specific epoch which triggers your interest; a book of poetry — although, in this day and age, who has the time to read poetry?  A sad commentary, but let’s remember that the Irish still have that cadence of language; or even a sub-genre, like a spy novel or a “thriller”.

Suggestions?

There are too many to name, and to name a few would do injustice to so many others.  Let it suffice: Learning for a Lifetime is what gives life a lifetime of relevance, and reading is the basis for such learning.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal Service workers who suffer from an injury or disease where that injury or disease prevents the Federal or Postal employee from performing one or more of the basic elements of one’s Federal job, the focus of learning for a lifetime is probably directed towards learning about the medical condition itself, and further, the process of what it takes to legally win your Federal Disability Retirement case.

Contact a FERS Retirement Lawyer who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement Law, and learn the lesson that learning for a lifetime sometimes requires contacting a professional who has focused upon a specialized area of law — of Federal Disability Retirement Law.

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 from OPM: Piling On

There is an unspoken ethos in sports and other disciplines — of being charged with “unsportsmanlike conduct” if you engage in the activity of “piling on”.

If a game has already been decided but you push forth anyway to go for the touchdown followed by a 2-point conversion, you are likely guilty of the offense.  If you have already made your point and the intended target has clearly been shown to be wrong, and yet you persist in hammering out every conceivable other criticism to lay upon the individual, you are likely “piling on”.

If, in defeating a proposal or pointing to the inadequacy of some submission, you go beyond the first 3 points of a critical rebuttal — all valid and determined to be correct — but then go on with a red marker and circle every comma missed or adjective overused, it is likely that you are committing the sin of it.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under FERS, a Denial from OPM will likely find the feature of “piling on”.

OPM is notorious for engaging in this activity; it is another way of saying, “Why did you even file?  You idiot!  You never stood a chance!”  Now, of course, OPM doesn’t put it in such an inartful manner; instead, it will be couched in lengthy “discussions” by large chunks of extrapolated statements from your medical file, and then concluding that you do not meet the “legal criteria” under Federal Disability Retirement Law.

Don’t be fooled.  It is no different than going for that 2-point conversion when the team is up by 50 points and there is only 4 seconds left on the clock.

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 Help: Seeing Ourselves

We look in the mirror, but fail to see ourselves — for, much of the reflective image is taken for granted and the thoughts which pervade keep us lost within the internal spheres of our mental lives.  We drive for miles and, arriving at our destination point, wonder how we got there, not remembering the turns we took, the traffic lights we obeyed and the mechanical signals we switched on and off.

Out family members — parents, wife, children, etc. — look at and through us, but never do they view the totality of who we are, leaving aside our inability to see ourselves as we are.  Then, perhaps, if we are lucky, there is a realization of the reality of the real “I” — jolted by a mirror image, or perhaps someone who actually sees the “real” you.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition can no longer be hidden behind the facade of a pretending “you”, it is time to consult with an OPM Disability Lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and to consider revealing the reality of your situation by admitting first that you can no longer continue in the same way you have.

“Seeing ourselves” is often a difficult task, but a necessary one when the conflict between our medical condition and our careers can no longer be accommodated.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire 
OPM Disability Retirement Attorney

    

Federal Disability Retirement: The “uh-oh” moment

They come in various shapes and sizes; sometimes, the “moment” is just after something is said and regret begins to insidiously creep into one’s conscience, knowing that the statement made will come back to haunt.  At other times, it is an event, perhaps beyond one’s control, and the seismic shift of tectonic undercurrents cannot be avoided or ignored.

The calamity comes in sizes and shapes — not necessarily of geometric proportions or dimensions — but of the “shape” of the mistake and the “size” of the mishap, and in comparison to whether or not damage-control can actually be effectuated.

Perhaps it is a simple walk in the forest and you become lost in thought; you look up and realize that you have wandered off from the rest of the group and you have no idea where you are.  You look up at the sun and try to remember whether, as a Tenderfoot or some level of a past Boy Scout, you can recall the position of the sun —or was it the stars?  With no compass and no inkling of what to do, with the grumbling groans of a stomach beginning to fester with hunger, you say to yourself under your breath,”uh-oh.”

Or, you are at some gathering and your boss is standing within earshot and a woman is speaking rudely and obnoxiously at some servers and you say, without thinking, “Who is that obnoxious person speaking so rudely?”  There is silence.  It turns out to be the boss’s wife.  The boss looks at you, and you know that any future promotions, any chance of any advancement of any sort with this company will be obstructed by this person who has sworn to be your enemy forever — even though, in the silence bespoken of everyone standing around, what you said was true and irrefutable.  You mutter to yourself, “uh-oh” — for, even though truth may be a shield against most ills in life, the one time it will not protect you is against a boss who must defend his maiden’s honor.

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 job or position, it may be time to prepare, formulate and file an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to be submitted ultimately to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset.

It is a complex process and one where — if attempted without the guidance of an attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law — may be replete with multiple “uh-oh” moments of various shapes and sizes.  Perhaps such “uh-oh” moments will not be like the seismic calamities of being lost in the forest, or even of offending the boss into becoming an enemy-for-life; but as OPM is known to nit-pick and try everything to deny one’s Federal Disability Retirement application, it is best to try and minimize every “uh-oh” moment so that the “uh-oh” is instead replaced with its corollary: “uh-huh”.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Employee Disability Information: Present Priorities

Present priorities differ from past ones, if only they have now passed as being present and thus are no longer priorities, as it is often the circumstances as presented in the “now” which matter most to us, as past priorities have lessened in terms of impact, significance, relevance and current importance.

The present priorities that were in existence a decade ago may no longer be the same priorities of the present of today; for, today’s present priorities have changed with the alterations of time, the focus of growth and maturity and their impact upon one another; and it is the context of today, the circumstances of the current period, that matter most to us.

Yesterday, the present priorities may have been the dinner or social function for that evening, or the open vacancy for this or that opportunity.  Then, a major “other” event occurs — perhaps the birth of a child or the death of a friend or relative — and suddenly, the priorities that seemed of such importance and consequence just yesterday, may seem trivial and insignificant today.

Medical conditions, too, seemingly have such an impact — of putting upon us a “reality check” that fades everything else into mere background noise.  What does it matter how one’s career is going, if you come home each night exhausted and unable to enjoy even the opening sonata of a symphonic masterpiece? Or if all of one’s weekend is merely to recover from the week’s fog of endless work, or of vacations and sick leave exhausted to endure constant and incessant testing and treatment regimens that leave no time for pleasure?

Whatever the present priorities and how they differ from past present priorities, one thing is clear: One’s health remains constant throughout, and preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application, to be submitted ultimately to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, reveals that the present priorities of the most important priorities always endure, and that must always include one’s health and well-being, as the application for an OPM Medical Retirement is more evidence that the focus upon past priorities must be re-thought in order to accommodate the present priorities which are of greater importance and significance now that one’s health is at stake.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement Claims: Of fortunes unattained

Here, of the story untold:

“He woke up and went into the bathroom, and there found an old man staring at him.  There was no voice that called; no utterance of a salutation so early in the morning.  The corrugated skin of this stranger was pulled back, revealing deep cuts in the rivulets of age where time had taken its toll.  His hair was unkempt; thinning and grey, with speckles of white reaching deep within the roots of timeless agony.

Where had time robbed this pathetic creature, where a lifetime was given as a gift in order to make his fortune, to find his love and to gather his friendships?

It seemed only yesterday that the toddler reached for his parents’ loving arms, and they who looked upon him with kindly affection and whispering, ‘There, there, you have a whole life ahead of you to dream your dreams and reach your goals’, and then the fading summers where life seemed but a dream where oceans divided and manhood arose from the depths of a sea that swallowed me whole.  And when the stranger in the bathroom finally spoke, it had the voice of one who stared back from a mirror that reflected the insanity of myself, old and lost, voicing a soliloquy of loneliness where once my children laughed within a wilderness of a future yet unseen.”

And so it is with many of us; time seems to creep ever so slowly during troubled waters of despair; and then, one morning, we wake up and decades have passed us by.  Did we do all that we wanted to do?  Did we find that love we yearned for?  Did we make that fortune we promised ourselves we would attain, remembering the poverty of our youth and the promises whispered in huddled caves beneath the conscience of our lonely hearts?

Of fortunes unattained, we can always justify by telling another tale: Life is too short to search only for abandoned treasures and, besides, what truly is a ‘fortune’?  Is love of lesser worth than gold in reserve, and does not friendship value greater than a penny saved?  And when compared with one’s health, is fortune amassed of any value if the former is sacrificed for the latter?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, where 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, 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, is an important step towards reaching those goals yet reconsidered.

Of fortunes unattained — perhaps so; but when one’s health is at stake, all else must become secondary, and for the disabled Federal employee or injured Postal worker who can no longer continue in a career which is only exacerbating the deterioration of one’s health, those thoughts of fortunes unattained must by necessity be temporarily set aside and replaced by the wisdom of a more valued existence.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement: Chaldean and Pythagorean Numerology

Is it a submission to determinism, or is there some hint of validity other than a self-fulfilling prophesy?  Can names, dates and events be translated into a numerical construct such that predictability of one’s future can be ascertained?

The differences between the two are apparently substantive; the algorithms and numbered “personalities” are altered when the spectrum of equations (1 through 8 under the Chaldean system, and the addition of the next number in sequence under the Pythagorean methodology); and under the Pythagorean Numerology, the system pays greater attention to the full name at birth rather than to the nickname daily used by an individual, where weighted significance is granted upon an emphasis of letters included.

Historically, the Chaldean system has remained staid since the times of Babylon, whereas the Pythagorean Numerology has evolved into modernity, with minor changes and methodological alterations utilized to adapt to modern day applicability.  Both are forms of ancient Astrology and Palmistry, where the interaction between the novice who approaches for foretelling encounters a “system” utilizing numerical alignment, predestined aura and the wisdom of the one who is schooled in the ancient cosmos of rational defiance.

Is it all puff and nonsense?  Perhaps; but of what percentage of our own beliefs constitute a similar system of mystical ambivalence?  Do we read the horoscope?  Are some days more hapless than others?  Do dogs bay at the full moon, and do wolves and horses run wild in their full light of darkness?  Or, when Mars is aligned with the satellites unseen, when the reflection of a full moon’s embrace upon a pond’s quietude in twilight’s shadow, are there greater crimes of the soul committed?  Why are streets filled with rows upon rows of Palmists where long lines of anticipatory trembling and drops of sweat tickle down the side of the armpit while awaiting the foretelling of our soul’s destination?

Yes, for some, it is mere fun after a night of drinking to dare one another to have the inner essence searched and revealed; and yet we live still within the confines of our own mystical abandonments, do we not?  Do we curse the universe for the bad day we experience, or buy a lottery ticket despite the numerical odds of wasting that dollar?  Is science the pinnacle of human achievement that squeezes out the possibility of gnomes, hobbits and angels who fly in the midst of foggy mornings to garner the sins of fallen souls?

Yes, Chaldean and Pythagorean numerology are systems largely outdated and unmasked as unscientific, largely because we have replaced them with paradigms that are acceptable to modernity.  But mysteries still abound.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are considering filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits because of a medical condition which impacts or otherwise prevents the Federal or Postal employee from continuing in one’s chosen career, the question with the background of Chaldean and Pythagorean Numerology is the following:  What methodology are you going to adopt and apply in preparing, formulating and filing for Federal disability Retirement benefits?  Is it thoughtful, methodological, sequential?  Is it based upon current legal precedents?  Do you understand the pitfalls and the underlying import by the cunning questions asked on Standard Form 3112A?  Or, is it tantamount to Palmistry and a reliance upon an outmoded mystical aura of Chaldean or Pythagorean Numerology?

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement: The Court of Sycophants

The word itself is a linear sequence of consonants and vowels which delight the linguistic palate of parallelism between sound and meaning; rolling off of the tongue, it begins with the soft purr of the ‘s’, then slides midway into the harsh and guttural clash of a germanic cough, as if something untoward has been stuck in the center of one’s throat which needs to be cleared, like phlegm gathered in the mucous membranes of the respiratory passages; then flows to the end and drifts off into a quietude of irrelevance, disregard and dismissal, as the pointed meaning of application coincides with the diminishing utterance of fading signification.

In feudal times, when kings and princes of minor fiefdoms pockmarked the divided provinces of Europe and Asia, the gathering of sycophants pervaded each hour with daily tributes of flowery adjectives added effortlessly in conjunction with backstabbing motivations; the smiles of agreement and infusion of words to puff up the royal kingdom were offset by the murderous rage hidden in the dark corridors of dungeons where the abyss of human cruelty and malevolence resided with unfettered and ravenous appetite.

Does the modern presence of such and the like represent a fading vestige of that former calumny of bacterial servitude, or merely a reflection of the true nature of man’s essence?  The court of sycophants does not exist merely in dusty books of historical irrelevance; it survives in small pockets of sibling rivalries where inheritances are favored by means of embellished compliments combined with fading cognitive capacity for recognition of the distinction between words and sincerity; and in workplaces where no hostages are taken when one’s livelihood is at stake.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are intimately familiar with the darkened hearts of sycophants, there are more colorful words used to describe them — as in the kissing of another’s behind; but whether one uses the original one or a replacement of a more informal vernacular, the meaning all amounts to the same.  Especially, when a medical condition begins to impacts the Federal or Postal Service employee’s ability and capacity to perform at the same level as before, the wide range of sycophants begin to make their appearance.

Somehow, denigration of others is believed to elevate one’s own status and stature, and indeed, the feudal court of sycophants was based upon that system of favoritism and derisive discourse.

For the Federal or Postal employee who suffers from a medical condition, however, such that filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management becomes necessary, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, the escape from the constant backbiting and backstabbing becomes necessary not only to maintain and further one’s health and well-being, but is also a recognition that one has lost the favor of the court itself, and it becomes incumbent upon the Federal and Postal employee to recognize that the Court of Sycophants has been powdering the nose not of the king’s face, but of the emperor whose clothes has disappeared and where the cheeks which quiver with frolicking laughter are at the wrong end of the anatomical map.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement Attorney: Doldrums

It is an actual pocket of calm in areas of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, where maritime sailors dreaded in days of yore because they presented calm and quietude when the necessity for winds to power the sails of movement suddenly died and disappeared.  One could be trapped for weeks, and sometimes months, when the doldrums hit.

In modern vernacular, of course, they represent a parallel metaphor — of that state of emotional inactivity and rut of life, where melancholy and gloominess overwhelms.  Sometimes, such despair and despondency is purely an internal condition; other times, it is contributed by circumstances of personal or professional environment.

For the Federal employee or the U.S. Postal Worker who suffers from the former because of a medical condition which leads to a state of dysphoria, the need to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits often commingles with the latter, precisely because the internal and external are inevitably interconnected.  The emotional doldrums become exacerbated by the toxic environment engendered and propagated by reactions engaged in by the agency; and the continuing effect becomes a further cause because of the hostility shown and heightened actions proposed.

How does one escape the doldrums of stale despair?  For the mariner whose power depended upon the winds of change, waiting for altered conditions was the only avenue of hope; for the Federal or Postal worker who suffers from a medical condition, such that the medical condition presents a doldrum of another sort, taking affirmative steps by preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal employee or Postal worker is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, is the primary and most effective manner for efficacious change.

Sitting around helplessly like a victim of the vicissitudes of life may have been the way of past responses; for the Federal and Postal employee of modernity, we have greater control over the destiny of one’s future, but to utilize the tools of change requires action beyond mere reflection upon the doldrums of life.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire