Pretending is a game considered healthy for children, in almost all societies. It allows for the expansion of “creative energies” inherent in the growing psyche, and to allow for children to take on roles, encounter other situations of fictionalized circumstances, and confront fears without actual harm or potentiality for damaging the growing psychological turmoil which constitutes the make-up of each child. Besides all of that, it’s fun.
But at some point in the growth of a human being, pretending has to become dominated by the reality of daily living.
Some have suggested that the world of stage, actors, movies and entertainment shows, reflects an individual and a society which never emerged from the state of pretend. On the other hand, anyone who has known or been associated with those who prepare for an acting career, recognize the harsh reality of long days and hard work necessary for engagement in such a career. It is, rather, the individual in our society, who continues to pretend long past the time when such pretending is fun, which is of the greatest concern.
For the Federal or Postal employee who is considering filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, pretending that something is otherwise than that which is the harsh reality of one’s situation, will only exacerbate, magnify, and worsen the circumstances surrounding one’s case.
Pretending that one’s agency will not notice; pretending that one’s medical condition will go away; pretending that all will get better; pretending that…
The fantasy of pretend was to create a world of fun and laughter, and perhaps with some sprinkling of escapism; but when escaping the reality of the world results in the slow deterioration and destruction of what one has worked so hard for, then it is time to set aside the childish ways of pretend, and roll up those proverbial sleeves to contend with the world of reality.
If it takes pretending to go out and fight a battle to slay a dragon, at least such pretending will prompt one into action.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Reflections of an OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer | Tagged: after a serious illness or injury in the federal workplace - recognizing when change is necessary, appearance versus reality in federal disability retirement, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, confronting reality about your physical limitations in the federal workplace, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, denying the severity of your medical condition will not help your federal career or the reality of your physical or mental condition, differentiating unrealistic hope from pragmatic assessment, disability actors fers and pursuing their own self-interest, disability retirement fers and recognizing our limitations, engaging in a realistic assessment of one's present medical circumstances will help you to determine one's future course of actions, facing the demons of inaction with a pragmatic file-now worry-later approach, federal employees miraculous recovery, federal employment and an encounter with reality after an illness or disability, FERS Disability, going from thoughts to actions: fers disability retirement for government employees, hoping for a realistic medical recovery by taking the appropriate steps, hoping for the best with an immediate medical retirement after an accident or illness in the post office, if you are waiting for a miraculous recovery, injured postal workers and their miraculous job evaluations, legal services for federal and postal workers all across america, OPM First Stage Disability Application, playing the dangerous pretending game is like playing with fire and your disabilities, pretending that everything will be fine tomorrow at the post office, pretending that your medical condition won't affect your job performance, process reality at the postal service, realistic expectations about it times it may take to get your opm disability retirement application approved, recognizing the impact of your medical condition in the federal workplace, the disabled federal employee and the price of inaction, the federal employee's need for recognition and the indelible mark, the intense reservations and concerns of a disabled federal worker may drag him to inaction, the reality of a medical condition affects the way the disabled federal worker sees reality, the reality of the medical condition and federal disability law, the risk of a federal employee's inaction after a disability, time to recognize our disabilities in the federal workplace, when disabled federal workers recognize their limitations, when inaction means continuing on a path of self-destruction, when the postal worker cannot longer pretend everything is fine with him, words without actions will not get you medical retirement from your government agency | Leave a comment »
OPM Disability Retirement: Service Deficiency & Medical Condition
The Office of Personnel Management will often use as a criteria of denial the argument/basis that despite the fact that an individual may have a medical condition such that the medical documentation states that the Federal or Postal worker can no longer perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, nevertheless, there has not been a showing that a “service deficiency” has occurred. Often, agencies systematically write up performance appraisals without much thought or consideration; more often, Federal and Postal workers quietly suffer through his or her medical condition, and strive each day to meet the requirements of their duties.
Whatever the reason for the lack of attention or perception on the part of the supervisor or the agency to recognize that the Federal or Postal worker has not been able to perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, such basis for a denial of a disability retirement application by the Office of Personnel Management is not a legitimate one, because existence of a “service deficiency” is not the whole story: if it is found that retention in the job is “inconsistent” with the type of medical condition the Federal or Postal Worker has, then such a finding would “trump” the lack of any service deficiency. That is not something, however, that the Office of Personnel Management is likely to tell you as they deny your disability retirement application.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability Actors - The Agency, OPM Disability Actors - The Supervisor, U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) | Tagged: adverse agency reaction, agency's extraordinary top assessment in fers disability applications, agency's influence in disability retirement, assessment for postal disability retirement from supervisor, criteria of denial instead of criteria of disability in opm disability, disability retirement csrs, disability retirement usps non job related, disability retirement workers compensation, essential elements of jobs not so essential according to evaluation, federal disability facts, federal disability law firm, federal medical retirement, fers disability application supervisor comments, FERS disability attorney, fers disability attorney in mississippi, fers disability benefits, government postal disability, injured postal workers and their miraculous job evaluations, law firm for federal disability retirement, medical disability lawyers opm, opm disability and the supervisor who says everything's fine, opm disability for federal employees in louisiana, opm disability for federal workers in alabama, opm disability retirement representation in utah, opm supervisor statement disability retirement, opm's excuses to deny your federal disability retirement, owcp disability retirement really is usually meant "opm disability retirement", owcp medical retirement, postal service disability retirement, postal service medical retirement, representing federal employees from any us government agency, representing federal employees in and outside the country, representing us government disability employees anywhere, the incapacitated federal employee without service deficiency, USPS disability retirement benefits, washington state federal opm disability retirement, when supervisors don't notice any medical condition in federal worker, when the agency claims no service deficiency in opm application, when there is no accommodation because there is no job deficiency, when top performance hurts the chances of getting fers disability, when work performance evaluations are near too perfect, Workers Comp disability, workers comp fers retirement, your supervisor and federal disability retirement | Leave a comment »