Medical Retirement for Federal Workers: Fear, Anxiety, Loathing and Acting

To “act” can have multiple meanings; one can be engaged in “make believe”, or merely doing something as opposed to talking about it. One can participate in a pretense (“he was putting on an act”); but perhaps engaging in pretense is not dissimilar (forgive the double negative; it sounds phonetically pleasing — but, then again, to say “sounds” and “phonetically” requires further forgiveness for unnecessary redundancy; and finally, is it not a double redundancy to speak of unnecessary redundancy?) to being on stage, or in a movie, and acting as actors do, except in an unpaid status.

In that sense of the word, we all engage in such semblance of who we are or what we want to appear to be.  Further, such pretense and concealment of one’s essence is often based upon the fear one imagines; the anxiety one experiences; and the loathing one encounters if such outward appearances are not performed.

For the Federal or Postal Worker who suffers from a medical condition, such that the medical condition must be hidden from public view because, to fail to conceal would mean that one would become subjected to an agency’s or Postal Service’s reactionary retaliation in dealing with such issues — the emotional turmoil of fear, anxiety, loathing and acting is a commonplace, daily experience.

Fear of what the agency will do; anxiety from the constant fight against the medical condition and the concealment in order to continue working; loathing of what may have to be faced today; acting in order to cover and hide to get through another day. But it is often in the secondary meaning of the verb, “to act”, which finds the penultimate resolution of such a quandary.

Acting — “doing something” — as opposed to engaging in pretense, is the solution.

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 or CSRS, is the concrete step from mind-to-matter. It is often the act itself which resolves the turbulence of a crisis.

For, it is the actor on the greater stage of life, in real time, in genuine situations, where pretense and make-believe are shoved aside for masks and make-up artists, and when the reality of the essence of what is important in life comes to the fore — that is where action intersects with the artificial world of acting, and where one must walk off the stage of make-believe and instead cook one’s own meal, as the reality of necessity overtakes us all.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal and Postal Disability Retirement: Mourning for Things We Never Knew

We often reminisce for things we never knew, but imagined we once had or hoped to have; of small towns and neighborhoods where caring concern characterized a sense of community and belonging; or perhaps it was from our remembrances, formed and solidified from old television shows we grew up with, when once innocence of times of yore remained with us to form dreams of a brighter future.

Health and monotony tends to have a similar effect. The former, because we take it for granted; and the latter, because we mistakenly believe that crisis equals excitement, when in fact security of daily living without eruptions of emergency management is the quietude which most of us seek, though we fail to appreciate it.

For the Federal and Postal employee who suffers from a medical condition, the times of yore when a life without pain is barely remembered, and where the lingering effects of an extensive medication regimen was once comprised of a single multivitamin pill, the thought of wanting to return to a “time prior to” is often at the forefront of daily reminiscences, and constitutes the limited hope for the future.

At some point, however, as medical conditions continue to deteriorate, and as the surgical interventions, palliative medical procedures and list of countermanding medication regimens increase in volume and expand in extent, it becomes clear that the impact upon one’s attempt to maintain an appearance of normalcy can no longer be tolerated.

When the Federal or Postal employee’s medical condition impacts one’s ability to perform all of the essential elements of one’s positional duties, it is time to consider preparing the steps to formulating a Federal Disability Retirement application.  Such a Federal Disability Retirement application must be ultimately filed with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and because the waiting process can be quite lengthy, the initial steps should be contemplated fairly early in the recognition of medical condition-to-impact upon one’s job.

Federal Disability Retirement is a benefit there for Federal employees under either FERS or CSRS, and is a compensatory system enacted precisely for those Federal and Postal employees who suffer from a medical condition which impacts one’s ability to perform one’s job.

Longing for a time once remembered is an activity of comforting reminiscence; the reality of the present, however, awakens us from the slumber of such daydreams of an era once blinking on the horizon of a time long passed.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Medical Retirement Benefits for US Government Employees: Watchful Eyes

The falcon flies in our midst; with an unknown distance of its perimeter to prey, it suddenly appears, perched with watchful eyes for squirrels, rabbits, other birds, etc.  Its flight is silent and graceful, and long before people realize its presence, the silence and sudden muteness of wildlife activity reveals the fear imposed by its mere appearance.  It flies silently, swiftly, and with a grace which demands awe and respect.  From its high vantage point, the targeted prey below rarely stands a fair chance of avoidance.  Those eyes are focused, with a singular vision operating to corner, catch and consume.  Organisms under a microscope must feel a similar sense, if indeed they become aware of being studied and prodded.

People, too, who are being surveilled and inspected; there is often a sixth sense of being constantly and vigilantly watched.  Federal and Postal Workers who are under the onerous burden of a Performance Improvement Plan (the acronym of a “PIP”) have that same sense.  It is not a positive or productive feeling; it is, instead, a dread of knowing that the “watching” part is merely a prelude for further actions forthcoming, like the noiseless glide of the hawk above.

Being under the constant gaze of a predator often requires preventative action on the part of the prey; for Federal and Postal Workers who come to recognize that his or her job performance is deteriorating because of a medical condition, such that the medical condition prevents one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management may be the best option and course of action to take.  Because it is taking such a long time to get an approval these days, preparatory steps should be taken early.  Waiting for a separation from service, while still allowing for time thereafter to file, is normally not the wisest course.

As it is always better to be the “watcher” than the “watched”, so the Federal employee who needs to file for OPM Disability Retirement benefits should take the affirmative steps to prepare for an eventuality — that time when, like the hawk who has made a decision to target its prey, the Federal or Postal Worker has a place of refuge to enter.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal Gov. and USPS Disability Retirement: Time Once Lost…

The time we expend ruminating upon future events which fail to occur; or engaging in frivolities beyond needed leisure to restore one’s mind and body; it is when action or inquiry could have answered one’s concerns that such time, once lost, is lost forever.

Some of the effort expended can be justified; certainly, before one can engage in action or inquiry, some time must be used for thoughtful preparation; but to ruminate endlessly in repetitive, circular fashion, is to allow for human frailty to overwhelm that characteristic which should be paramount in our lives:  rationality and the ability to properly reflect, analyze and judge accordingly.

Time has become a commodity of worth beyond mere measurement of the movement of objects; it is limited in scope but demanded far and above the capacity of existent supply.  Technology was meant to ameliorate; but we all know that it has only exponentially robbed us further of this valuable and limited unit.

For Federal and Postal employees who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition impacts one’s personal and professional life, the value of time cannot be emphasized.  Ruminating about one’s condition and the orientation for one’s future will not get one from point A to destination B.

Time is of the essence, and with the bureaucratic headaches and administrative delays compounding the difficulties, both at the agency level as well as with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, delay only creates to magnify the importance of time, timing, and the measuring of timeliness.

Time expended in fruitless efforts, once lost, is lost forever.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement for Federal and USPS Workers: Excuses

Language is the vehicle by which self-justification is established.  Think about it; if we assume that there is a conceptual void in the mind of other animals, that the consciousness of a squirrel, a raccoon, an owl, etc., is devoid of language as we employ it, then how can procrastination or delay occur?  It is precisely language and the tools of conceptual constructs which provide for an “excuse” for response to a stimuli, and allows for human action to be prevented.

The will to act or refrain from acting is often considered the hallmark of higher intelligence; but intelligence itself can be a detrimental quality, allowing for self-destructive actions resulting from a string of illogical but persuasive reasonings.  Where lack of intelligence provides for the immediacy of response to a presented encounter, so the presence of it in elevated forms will allow for justifying delays to such responses, even if it means a magnified danger to one’s own survival.

Excuses and self-justifying declarative sentences allow us to maintain a false sense of security by providing foundations for continuing on a path of self-destruction.  That is precisely why the Federal and Postal employee who suffers from a progressively deteriorating medical condition can maintain a semblance of normalcy despite physical and cognitive indicators to the contrary, sometimes for months, and even for years.  But pain and cognitive dysfunctions have a funny way of reminding the body and mind of danger signals.  Brain synapses communicate the growing danger, and they continue to alert until the time comes when no more linguistic justifications will maintain that false sense of security.

When that time comes, the Federal or Postal worker must consider the option of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether under FERS or CSRS, through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

There is always time for being excused, and sometimes it is well-justified; then, there are other times when the exhaustion of excuses comes to a crisis point, and one must consider a different path.  That “different” path is the need to have a restorative period of recuperation in order to attend to one’s impending medical condition.  Federal Disability Retirement, under FERS or CSRS, is just that allowance for recuperation, and is a path of difference for many Federal and Postal employees.

There are excusable considerations, which last for a time; but time is a linear movement of bodies, and on the universal scale of progression, there comes a point when both time and excuses run out their course of self-justifying efficacy.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal and Postal Disability Retirement: The Futility of Waiting

The waiting game is perhaps the most frustrating aspect of any endeavor; for, in the end, dependence upon a third party to act, when the other person, entity or agency, may in fact never act, merely increases the sense of frustration.

In a Federal Disability Retirement application, ultimately filed with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS (Federal Employees Retirement System) or CSRS (Civil Service Retirement System — that grand old system which some were fortunate enough to squeeze into before the mid-80s when abolition and transition to FERS occurred), Federal and Postal employees will often think that they must “wait” for their agency to act, to perform some duty, to respond, to do something… when in fact waiting normally results in further non-action.

Since the preponderance of the evidence in proving a Federal Disability Retirement case is solely upon the Federal or Postal worker who applies, it is rare that waiting for anything from one’s agency will bear any substantive fruit of any kind.  While medical conditions continue to progressively worsen, one is left waiting; while time continues to march on, one is left waiting; and while resources get depleted, and more and more SL & AL is used up, the Federal and Postal worker is left with the proverbial empty bag.

No, there is ultimately nothing that needs to be waited upon in preparing a Federal Disability Retirement application.  While dreams of the future are made with the stuff of patience, it rarely includes waiting upon an agency of the Federal Government to prepare one’s Federal Disability Retirement application.  Better to go chase a cloud in the sky than to expect anything helpful.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal Worker Disability Retirement: Proactive Development of a Case

The problem with medical conditions is that we tend to regard them passively, as recipients of service at a restaurant, or as victims of an automobile hit-and-run.  There is some limited truth to such a perspective; for, as medical conditions come upon us without notice or invitation, we are merely recipients of a condition of that which we never asked for nor desired. But once it becomes an existential fact, and one which becomes chronic and somewhat irreversible, then the subsequent methodology of what we do with the medical condition becomes the responsibility of the bearer of such bad news.

For Federal and Postal employees who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition(s) prevents one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, whether under FERS or CSRS, consideration must be given to filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Passivity in life will only engender magnification of inactivity; and as one must affirmatively prove by a preponderance of the evidence one’s Federal Disability Retirement case, sitting idly by as one’s agency takes steps to increase the penalties of unsatisfactory performance via leave restrictions, a PIP, suspensions, or other adverse actions, including removal from Federal Service, is simply an ineffective way of formulating and developing one’s Federal Disability Retirement case.

Case development requires a proactive stance; inactivity will only feed upon the devastating medical condition already suffered.  Being a victim of a disease or injury once is bad enough; let not the occurrence be magnified by compounding the problem through inactivity and passivity.

Sincerely, Robert R. McGill, Esquire

OWCP Disability Retirement for Federal Government Employees? Beware the Lull of Complacency

Monotony is a state of being which we often criticize, yet unintentionally seek; for it is that hiatus of quietude which allows for thoughtful reflection, and recuperative islands of serenity, which serves to prevail upon an otherwise maniacal universe of a fast-paced technological world of smart phones, email, and the constant drone of machinery and demands of the modern decalogue.

But the problems inherent with the calm of normalcy is that it serves the unwanted plate of complacency; and it is precisely the latter which then results in procrastination, a sense that things can wait until tomorrow — until that tomorrow leaves us in the throes of yesterday.

And so it is with Federal and Postal employees who remain on OWCP/Department of Labor benefits, where the luxury of being paid 66 2/3 % if without dependents, and 75% with dependents, provides for that period of life when nothing moves and everything remains static, while one attempts to recuperate from an injury or occupational disease.  But as one remains in that island of calm, the world — and time — continues to march on (do the young of today fully understand the metaphor of time in this digital age where the rhythmic constancy of a ticking clock is no longer heard?).

The Federal or Postal employee might receive a notice of separation from Federal Service, but since the OWCP payments will continue, not think twice about such mundane consequences.  But Federal Disability Retirement benefits must be filed for within one (1) year of separation from Federal Service; and when the hiatus of OWCP benefits is suddenly terminated, the world of monotony may turn upside down into one of unintended turmoil, unless a “back-up” system of benefits was applied for.

Reflective moments are a positive thing; inaction for too long, however, often results in atrophy — a state of being which is never a positive one.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

USPS and Federal Civil Service Disability Retirement: Human Beings and Railroad Tracks

The metaphor of trains and railroad tracks are numerous and infinite in their applicability and relevance:  train wrecks; inability to stop; actions which proceed with a directional course towards a cliff; predetermined path of existence; and many others, some which invite ontological and teleological issues concerning free will and the ability to have an omniscient vantage point.

For Federal and Postal employees who are suffering from a medical condition such that the medical condition(s) impacts one’s ability/inability to perform all of the essential functions of one’s job, the analogy to a train ride is quite accurate.  For, the course of one’s career is often one which is set at the very beginning — an upward trajectory with expected grade-promotions and regular step increases; a sense of working for an agency with a mission, a purpose, and (perhaps most importantly) a steady paycheck.  But a pre-set course has a disadvantage:  a track from which one cannot stray; yet, if continuing onward, a certainty for a collision, headlong into subpar performance evaluations, a PIP, disciplinary actions, and potential terminations.

A train wreck waiting to happen.

About the go over that proverbial cliff.  Federal Disability Retirement is a benefit available for all Federal and Postal workers, whether under FERS or CSRS, if you meet the minimum eligibility requirements.  Fortunately, humans are not trains; free will and the ability to change course in life is an innate potentiality of the human soul.  But free will, in order to have any effect, must be acted upon.  Mere thought is not the same as action; it is, ultimately, human action which leads to change.  Just some thoughts to ponder.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal Employee Medical Retirement: Entrenchment versus Fidelity to a Promise

People often have a general sense of obligations and duties, and remain steadfast in fidelity to promises made.  Ultimately, it is actions which confirm the sincerity of words, and not an abundance of additional verbiage.  But fidelity to a course of action can constitute an entrenchment of actions without regard to changing circumstances or the vicissitudes which accompany a career or a course of events.  Intersecting issues will often require a changing response; a change in plans does not necessarily constitute a violation of a promise; rather, it may in fact be the very fulfillment of a promise.

And so it is with Federal and Postal employees who confront and must deal with a medical issue; those projects which were spearheaded by a particular person; those mission statements and goals intended — suddenly, multi-tasking must be pared down to a single duty; time must be taken to attend to one’s medical conditions; the course of action intended must be altered, modified, and sometimes abandoned.

If the essence of X becomes damaged, do its attributes remain untouched, also?  Or must the dependencies be transformed in order to preserve the essence? Staying on a course when the context has encountered dramatic alterations, can be viewed as either foolhardy, stubborn, or valiant.

When a Federal or Postal Worker who is suffering from a medical condition such that the medical condition impacts one’s ability to perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s positional duties, it is time to evaluate and review the course of one’s career.  Opting to preserve one’s health and to prepare and file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, is not an abandonment of purpose; rather, it is a recognition that life’s unexpected turn has forced a change of course — honorable in intent, and necessary in preservation.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire