Federal Disability Retirement Law: Loss of Social Cues

Perhaps, no one will notice.  Or, more likely, there will be a continuum of embarrassing moments, where everyone will merely look the other way and act as if nothing out of the ordinary has occurred.  Truth be told, the loss of social cues has, over time, become palpable; beyond noticeable; more than a sidebar; it is now at a crisis point where normalcy has given way to eccentricity of behavior.

Look at all of the kids entering the school building; surrounded by others, yet lost with heads bent down to take a last look at their smartphones.  Watch as school ends, and what are they all doing — exiting and at the first inkling, the initial inclination?  Out with the smartphones.  Screens are merely paginated snapshots of information; they do not present the human complexities of expressions, grimaces, winces or smiles — all of the compendium of social cues which are picked up in the animal world through real encounters with others.

They are learned over time; imperceptibly; of recognizing tension in the air, of silence so heavy that it feels stuffy.

How do we learn to pick up social cues?  By engaging with other human beings, caring about them, showing some interest and empathy.  Instead, we choose to stare at screens filled with flashing lights; and though the dopamine in our bodies may accelerate and give us an addictive “high”, the loss of social cues is what disintegrates the already-weakened fabric of a clueless society.

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, have you picked up on the social cues of your supervisor or coworkers?  Do they look at you as if you carry the Black Plague?  Are you all of a sudden disinvited from closed-door meetings?

Having a medical condition, trying to hide it, attempting to push through despite your deteriorating health; these are all part and parcel of indicators that a change is needed, and you may want to initiate the change before your agency begins the process of separating you from Federal Service.  Contact a FERS Disability lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and don’t let the social cues unrecognized lead you to a surprise proposal to remove you from Federal Service.

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 Lawyer Representation for Federal Disability Retirement Applications: “Just…”

There is a sense of finality to the declarative command — in whatever form of the word is applied.  “Just do X and you’ll be fine”; or: “It’s just a few forms to fill out”.

As a simple adverb, it appears rather harmless — until, of course, those forms that “just” need to be completed turn out to be rejected by the U.S. Offie of Personnel Management, and then you are just left alone and abandoned.

“Just because I told you it was easy, doesn’t make it so.”  What?  Just Because….  The “just” insertion is the justification when justice is just not achieved, and just because someone just says so doesn’t make it just so.

OPM Federal Disability Retirement is not just a matter of answering a few questions and just gathering together some medical records; it is oh-so just so much more.  And just because your Human Resources Office of your Agency or Postal Service says it just ain’t so, doesn’t make it just what they say it just is.

Just to make sure, you may want to contact a FERS Disability Attorney who just happens to specialize in Federal Disability Retirement Law, in order to received justice for your Federal Disability Retirement application.

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 under FERS: False Wisdom

The cottage industry which leeches upon failure and despair has always been around.  The false wisdom that “failure” is actually a positive outcome (because we can learn from it; because it leads to greater “growth”; that one cannot succeed without first tasting the bittersweet food of failure, etc.) is out there to be sold to, and purchased by, millions upon millions who have, indeed, experienced the outcome of failure.

There is, of course, an argument to be made: That you should look on the bright side of things; that lessons can, indeed, be learned from failure; that we might want to try things differently next time, etc.  On the other hand, most people would rather succeed, and do so on the first try, instead of experiencing the alleged “growth-potential” of failing at something.

False wisdom is pervasive.  Why?  For a number of reasons — because “wisdom” has been ill-defined; we no longer seek it, but only the benefits which can be wrought from it; because we interpret “success” purely in terms of material wealth, etc.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who need to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits because of a prevailing medical condition which impacts one’s ability and capacity to continue in his or her current position, false wisdom would say that there is no choice but to endure the present circumstances.

Contact a disability lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement, and avoid the false wisdom which pervades even in the field of a specialized area of law such as Federal Disability Retirement Law.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Lawyer
OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer

 

Legal Representation on Federal Disability Retirement Claims: Clarity in Confusion

All processes contain some level of confusion.  It is left up to the encountering individual to create clarity when confusion prevails.  Thus do we try and make sense out of a world of chaos — whether in a war, a pandemic, a crisis or a tragedy.

Some people are ill-equipped to try and order the disorder encountered; others, while inadequately prepared, may nevertheless make a feeble attempt at some semblance of comprehension; and it is left up to that rare individual to create a meaningful wholeness from a universe of chaos.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are muddled in confusion because a medical condition is preventing the Federal or Postal worker from being able to perform all of the essential elements of his or her job, confusion of a specific nature begins to prevail:  What to do?  How to survive?  What will the future hold?

These, and many other questions will predominate.  OPM Disability Retirement is one option to consider in order to reach a state of clarity in the muddle of confusion.  Contact a Federal Disability Retirement Lawyer who specializes in OPM Disability Retirement Law, and begin to gain some clarity within the administrative and bureaucratic morass of confusion.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Lawyer

 

Medical Retirement for Federal Employees: On the Verge

We often think in those terms, don’t we?  We are “on the verge” of doing something — whether of minor significance, major importance or of negligible impact.

All other species of living entities simply act and react; they do not engage in linguistic meanderings by discussing future events of unaccomplished deeds, but simply engage in the act of performance itself.  “I am on the verge of doing X” or even the further distancing statement that “X is planning to be on the verge of Y” — all statements of future intentions based upon planned coordination of unfulfilled motives.

Often, it is the perfect set of circumstances that one waits for, or a key element that remains missing before the initiation of the decision to act occurs.  To remain on the cliff’s edge, or right before the starting line, or even that twilight’s moment before one awakens, begins to stir and is aware of one’s surroundings just before the lengthy slumber of the night’s quietude turning into the frenzy of the day’s activities — that is where the “verge” remains.  Then, there are those for whom the act is never accomplished and one remains perpetually “on the verge”.

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, don’t let being “on the verge” destroy your health or potentiality left in limbo to seek other opportunities.

Filing for Federal Disability Retirement is an act, not a thought, and when too much thinking betrays the medical condition by overriding good sense, it is time to consult with an attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and get some sound advice on whether to remain “on the verge” of making a decision to act, or to remain with one’s Agency or Postal Service while deteriorating into a perpetual state of despondency.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

FERS & CSRS Medical Retirement: The power of words

The extraordinary nature of such conceptual constructs cannot be long or seriously refuted.  Whatever the anthropological origins of them; of the efficacy based upon quantity as opposed to quality; of whether some societies that lack the nuance of inflection, meaning or inherent force; and however they developed over time, incrementally building into greater heights of tenor, tone or tempestuous triggers of emotional upheavals —one cannot deny the power of words.

Words convey meaning, direction, instruction; touch emotions when utilized with sensitivity and care; and trigger images so powerful that they can break down the most stoic among us, and convey persuasion such that minds can be changed, actions can be reversed and lives can be altered.

One cannot say of them, “Oh, they’re just a bunch of words” and believe them without recognizing the times when a 911 call helped to save a life because of the calm “words” of the dispatcher, or of the marriage vow that cemented and elevated the mere utterances into a lifetime of fidelity; or of the baby’s first formations beyond the gurgling sounds emitted that identifies comprehension beyond an appetitive nature.

The power of words can uplift, denounce, alter the course of history and damage a young psyche beyond repair.  The power of words can persuade, explain, instruct and describe, of the beauty of a sunrise beyond the meadows where butterflies float and flowers begin to disclose the radiance of the morning dew-droplets in the chasm of a waking mind, or of the sunset where sunlight is replaced by shadows within the hearts of young lovers projecting what the future might yet bring, yet contented in the embrace of warmth and merriment.

It is by words that civilizations rise and fall, and by which man is elevated above the apes, but yet remain just below the angels; and it is the power of words that brought us Shakespeare, Milton, Faulkner and Hemingway, and the quiet subtlety of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s politeness of society.  Then, by contrast, there is life itself.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, this contrast is known and appreciated.  Medical conditions betray the limitations of words; for, how can “pain” be adequately described?  What good is a “diagnosis” beyond that which cannot be cured?  How can one utilize the “power of words” to describe the despondency of Major Depression?  And more to the point: How can one adequately convey by the power of words, the impact perpetrated by the medical condition upon the essential elements of one’s job?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are considering 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, remember always that there is a wide chasm between “having a medical condition” and being able to persuade OPM that the medical condition prevents you from performing one or more of the essential elements of your job.

And such persuasion, ultimately, is accomplished through the power of words.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Lawyer Representation OPM Disability Retirement: The winter doldrums

Whether everyone without exception experiences it, one can never tell.  For some, it comes in a subtle, slow manner, approaching at the beginning of, somewhere in the middle, or near the end when the long days of cold and darkness seem to have pervaded for too long that it has extinguished any memories of summer days and the sound of lapping waves in the heat of August.

For others, it comes like the roaring rush of the Siberian winds, paralyzing one as the shivers and overwhelming sense of doom and gloom – those twin cousins of an anticipated darkness and a subjective response to such environmental causation – becomes unavoidable in their power and sensation.  Of course, those who live in Florida never experience it, or rarely so.

The winter doldrums come upon most, in varying states of power, with impact in spectrums that only the affected individual can concede to.  It is, of course, too early to complain about so nascent in the season.  Instead, we are to be “joyful”, as the holiday season is upon us; and yet…

The analogy and metaphor have been applied in literature great and mediocre; of seasons likened to life’s cycles, and of their parallels to the experiences engaged.  From the “winter of discontent” to the “summer of childhood memories”, the cycle of seasons play upon the imagination, as spring represents the innocent beginnings of youthful dreams and fall betrays the end of childhood.

But of winter?  Where does the metaphor begin, and more importantly, what is anticipated beyond the frozen pillars of shivering nights?  And of winter doldrums – do we all experience them, and to what metaphor will we attribute the sensation of blanketed despondency, never to be shed except in the light of hope for a future yet to be anticipated?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition has brought about the winter doldrums too early in one’s career, preparing a Federal Disability Retirement application, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, may well be the only way to shed the blanket of winter doldrums.  For, if spring is the season of hope and summer the embracing of tomorrow, then fall must by necessity be the phase of the downtrodden, and the winter doldrums the time to begin preparing.

Such analogies, of course, are meant to be just that – images by which to begin a process that remains a stark reality – for, the bureaucracy of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is likened to a dark dungeon that must be faced, and the perilous journey of filing a Federal Disability Retirement is sometimes the only way out of the despair of the Winter doldrums, by preparing, formulating and filing an effective OPM Disability Retirement application.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Disability Retirement Attorney: Uncharacteristic Behavior

It is the clash between an expectation and the actualization of an encounter, which determines one’s perspective of self-fulfillment of a belief, or a resulting dismay from failure of verifying the basis of a paradigm.  Characteristic behavior is thus that type of human encounter which meets with, or exceeds, one’s predetermined paradigm of what one has already believed to be so; to act out of that previously considered belief system, by definition makes it fall outside of the realm of such expectation.

For the Federal employee and the U.S. Postal worker, the bureaucratic complexity of the entire administrative process of preparing, formulating and filing 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, is normally not a surprise, and meets with or even exceeds, the expectation of an already-formed paradigm of what constitutes the “characteristic behavior” of the system as a whole.

It is the anomaly of the century when efficiency, helpfulness and pleasantries prevail throughout the process of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, where one hears with surprise and shock that it was “uncharacteristic”.  Sadly, that tells us something.  While somewhat unfortunate, we must always remember that the road of every bureaucratic process is paved with personalities of every type.  We tend to lump the entirety of an administrative process into a single cup and cauldron of judgment, but the reality is that there are multiple categories, just as there are different types of people throughout the universe, distinctly compartmentalized into:  helpful; friendly; efficient; nasty; backstabber; fair; unfair; loyal; unpredictable; just to name a few.

The process of filing a Federal Disability Retirement application through OPM can be a stressful one, if only because it is based upon an obvious stressor to begin with:  a medical condition which impacts one’s ability to perform one’s Federal or Postal job.  But it is not the bureaucratic process itself which adds or detracts from the inherent complexities of the process, but the behavior — characteristic or not — of those who must help along the way or hinder the necessary transition of the Federal or Postal employee, from one of active Federal or Postal employee to that of disability annuitant.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Disability Retirement: The Long Goodbye

The relegation to the basement office; the loss of niceties with coworkers; the negation of superlatives from higher ups; the clues become overt, blatant and uninviting.  Long goodbyes are often fertile ground for the souring of relationships forged over decades, and human interactions which reveal a perversity once thought uncommon.  Does the past count for anything, anymore?

Medical conditions and their impact are meant to evoke empathetic responses; instead, they often bring out the worst in humanity.  For Federal agencies and the U.S. Postal Service, they portend of headaches and interruption of efficiency; they are a bother.  For the Federal employee and the U.S. Postal worker who suffers from a medical condition, such that the medical condition begins to prevent one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s positional duties, the growing absences, the need to attend to one’s medical conditions — all become the priority of life and living.

From the agency’s viewpoint, it is a malignancy of logistical magnitude; another problem to be solved; and the longer the goodbye, the greater the extenuating interruption.  It is this clash of interests which calls for resolution.

Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether one is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, is an indicator to the agency that there is an end in sight, and once filed, it is merely a waiting game before finality of decisions is reached.  Often, the mere filing relieves the increasing pressure felt, like the encasement of boiling water which needs an outlet.

Medical conditions often require a long journey of sorts; it is the long goodbye which makes it all the more evident.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Medical Retirement Lawyer: Drawers and Other Hideaways

Whether cabinets and chests were created for neatness of housekeeping, or to bifurcate the clutter of consciousness, should be left up to anthropologists and social commentators.  Facebook, too, and Social Media, the inability to resist adding to the clatter and superficiality of what we say, what we collect, and how we amass, both information and items we choose to gather; does it all reveal the historical backdrop of the Mesozoic era, from whence we all originate?

We are all, ultimately, left to the devices of our own unmaking and insufficiencies; and that which we neatly hide in drawers of convenience, and close, become tantamount to sealing our fate when once we conceal that which needs to be maintained.

Federal Disability Retirement is a benefit which Federal and Postal workers seek to obtain, when a medical need arises and the medical condition, injury or trauma begins to impact one’s ability and capacity to perform all of the essential elements of one’s positional duties with a Federal Agency or the U.S. Postal Service.  Once obtained, the Letter of Approval received from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, often declares to the (now former) Federal or Postal employee, that a linear process from start to finish has now been concluded.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Like cars and children, maintaining the sufficiency and viability of an ongoing Federal Disability Retirement benefit is as important as the effort expended to win an approval.  And, like the car which needs a periodic oil change in order to extend the life of the internal mechanical apparatus by an exponential multiple, so the quality of effort needed to retain and maintain a Federal Disability Retirement benefit is minimal and uncomplicated; but necessary.

For Federal employees and Postal workers, whether under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, the cost of continuing care of one’s Federal Disability Retirement benefit, once achieved, should never be cast out of mind and consciousness; and rather than neatly setting it aside in some drawer or other hideaway, it should remain on full display in the centrality of one’s livelihood, lest the mice, goblins and other unwelcome creatures begin to gnaw at the ripeness of one’s Federal Disability Retirement benefit.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire