OPM Disability Retirement under FERS: Shame

Shame was once thought to be a valuable societal tool.  While not replacing laws, it often preempted the need for legislative enactments passed to curtail certain unwanted behaviors.  A society without shame is one which prompts and necessitates a state of unlimited laws attempting to regulate the population.

For, a society with traditions, including a general consensus regarding long-standing and known actions which have been deemed “shameful”, requires fewer laws, because self-regulation is performed through a community of unspoken and subtle repressions by mere looks, grimaces, and wordless expressions of contempt and condemnation.

Here in America, sometime in the late Sixties and throughout the Seventies, a quiet movement developed, which was anathema to shame.  We decided that the primary goal in raising children was to make sure that each child developed something obscurely indefinable and named it, “Self-Esteem”.  Shame, of course, was considered an emotion which did not help to indoctrinate or inculcate this thing called “self-esteem”, and so a concurrent movement developed: The campaign to stamp out anything and everything which might trigger a child’s having a sense of shame.

As a result, here we are today — everyone is a winner; nobody has more talent than anyone else; we are all the best that we can be; and whether you stink at something, you should still receive some sort of an award.

Yet, despite all of the educational nonsense and malpractice (Note: during the same period, some Harvard educators decided that learning to read by phonetics needed to be replaced by something called a “whole word” approach, until it became apparent that illiteracy became rampant and reading comprehension turned into a joke; but the trend is now being reversed and “phonetics” — a learning approach which worked for hundreds of years — has finally come back!  Another disastrous trend initiated in the Sixties and Seventies) perpetrated upon our kids, somehow, shame still continues to rear its ugly head in various sectors of our society.

At least, that is true of the “older” generation — like Federal and Postal employees under FERS, who try and hide their medical conditions because they feel a sense of shame that they cannot perform at the same level they are used to.

No need to feel such shame.  Go with the flow of the Sixties and Seventies, and contact a FERS Retirement Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and quit being silly — shame is something of the past, never to rear its ugly head, except maybe in unenlightened countries like Japan — a country where accomplishment is still recognized, and no, not everyone gets a prize just for showing up.

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 Law: Falling Through the Cracks

Where did that phrase originate from?  It often refers to small things slipping through without getting noticed because of their insignificance, whether because of size or lack of notoriety.  Children who lack popularity are often thought to be in danger of falling through the cracks — of not being given their due attention; of being ignored; of failing to be noticed.

The amazing thing is that we ever even notice it at all; for, by and large, most of us fall into the category of enforced anonymity — of being in danger of falling through the cracks.  Whether you are the “star” of the class or the “appointed one” whose every move is ooh-ed and ahhh-ed — most everyone else is of the ordinary ilk, unnoticed, ignored or otherwise already having fallen through the cracks.

Federal employees who suffer from a medical condition fall into that category — of either having fallen through the cracks, or about to fall through the cracks.  This is because the medical condition itself relegates the Federal and Postal employee into the category of the “outcast” — of those who have fallen through the cracks.

Contact a FERS attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and see whether or not you might qualify to fall through the cracks of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and land upon the other side where you can become a Federal Disability Retirement annuitant, where falling through the cracks will allow you to prioritize your life and focus upon the more important elements of a life of health and well-being.

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 Law: The Great Lesson

Once upon a time, people went through experiences without the need to put them to some greater advantage.

Stories abound of WWI and WWII veterans who earned medals for bravery — even the Medal of Honor — and never mentioned it to anyone, until some grandchild wandering up into Grandpa’s attic found a shiny ornament in some dusty old chest, brought it down and asked the old man, “What is this?”  Or, of the Olympic Gold Medalist who similarly went to work, got married and lived a “normal”, unassuming life without make a big todo about his or her accomplishment of being the top athlete in a chosen field.

Nowadays, everyone who experiences anything has to turn it into The Great Lesson.  It becomes an awakening; a springboard to some Eureka moment that propels the person into a higher purpose, a metaphysical transcendence to attaining a greater consciousness, and then to become a corporate motivational speaker who has some profound insight into life, its misgivings and that “Great Lesson” that was allegedly learned from some traumatic experience or other.

The reality is that, the greater lesson beyond any “great lesson” is that the experience itself — whatever it is — is not the hard part; the hard part is to go beyond that experience, and to continue to live a quiet, productive life without trying to sell to everyone how “The Great Lesson” lead you to profound, metaphysical insights which corporate motivational speakers can charge an arm and a leg to hear about.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a disabling 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, The Great Lesson of a medical condition is quite simple, and will not get you to some metaphysical consciousness beyond the simplicity of the lesson itself:  Get a Federal Disability Retirement annuity, and begin to focus upon the priority of your health.

There — that’s all there is to it.  Of course, maybe you can package it into some extended motivational speech and make up to 80% of what your former Federal job pays today, so that you can WOW them with some transcendental meditational speech and charge them that arm and a leg, but only after you have regained your health.

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 Attorney Legal Assistance: The Intended Goal

Every now and again, we see a video clip of the goal NOT intended — of a running back turned around and making for the wrong end zone; of a basketball player stick his or her leg out to block a pass, only to have the deflection make an arc and swish into the wrong basket; and other similar deviations from the intended goal.

Later in life, people forget to evaluate and analyze first what the intended goal is, before hazarding a lengthy trek towards the conclusion — i.e., years later, do we look at it and say to ourselves, “I should have…”.

OWCP under the Federal Department of Labor is one such animal where the intended goal is often overlooked.  OWCP is not a retirement system; instead, it is a benefit meant to return the Federal or Postal worker back to work.  FERS OPM Medical Retirement, on the other hand, is a system where one’s medical condition will allow the Federal or Postal worker to become eligible for early Federal or Postal Disability Retirement.

You can actually obtain an approval for FERS Disability Retirement while receiving OWCP benefits; you just can’t receive TTD and a FERS annuity concurrently, but you can have the FERS Disability Retirement approved but inactive.

The process for both is rather complicated, but if the intended goal is to retire early because you will never be able to go back to your former Federal or Postal job, you may want to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.

Yes, yes, OWCP pays more — for the present — but FERS Disability Retirement continues to build your retirement system by counting the years you remain on Federal Disability Retirement until age 62.

Contact a Federal Disability Attorney who specializes in OPM Disability Retirement, and begin to process of evaluating and analyzing the intended goal.

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 Representation: Guidance by Expertise

You can tell when it is “not” the case; the mishmash, the inconsistencies; the errors of content and significance; and it is precisely when guidance is lacking which the glaring inadequacies show, and can be taken advantage of by the other side.

When a play is performed on stage and the focus is upon the story itself — where criticism is targeted more on whether this actor or actress was better in her role here than in another play, or whether a certain scene accurately portrayed the story, etc. — and not upon the poor lighting, or the sound quality, then it becomes clear that the production itself was through the guidance of expertise.

When things go as they are supposed to, embracing the old adage of “smooth sailing”, it is likely that there was guidance by expertise.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are considering preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under FERS, guidance by expertise means that there is a coordination of the facts, the evidence and the law.

It doesn’t mean that every case will be approved; however, the chances of an approval will be greatly enhanced precisely because guidance by expertise is performed by a master of the production.

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 Application: In the Modern Age

Are there greater problems today than there were before?  Are there more bad people; is there a greater number of sexual predators; do people on the whole act with greater aberrance than in times past?

Of course, much of such questions depends upon what you define as “before” — as in, what historical time period, which civilization as the comparative reference point, and are we applying the same acts committed (i.e., apples-to-apples), etc.

In the modern age, is there more stress in the workplace?  Are psychiatric conditions worse and more prevalent because of the increase in workplace hostility and stressful conditions?  Is there a better way to keep and retain productive members of the workforce — i.e., to accommodate them — than to provide them with a disability annuity?

In the modern age, the level of workplace stress has, indeed, seemingly increased, to a rate and frequency where devastation of lives occurs in greater numbers than before.  Before — as in, when?  Such a question is an irrelevancy.  The modern age has no equivalence, and therefore no comparative analysis can be wrought.  Instead, the proper focus is to fight for one’s rights and one’s benefits.

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 position, contact a qualified OPM Lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law.

For, in the modern age, there exist laws which provide for alleviation from the medical devastation wrought by society’s undue workplace stresses, and asserting one’s disability rights is fortunately a benefit available in the modern age.

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 Benefits: The Trick Question

There are many.  In the media, it is often described as the “Gotcha” question — where the reporter springs upon the unwary target a query which cannot be answered without placing one in a negative light.

Or the lawyer’s cross-examination barrage beginning with, “So, Mr. so-and-so, Yes or No — did you ever stop beating your wife?” (Such a question, of course, is rather laughable and should be immediately objected to; but the “fun” of the question is that the answer becomes a quandary: If you answer, “Yes”, it means that you are admitting to beating your wife but that you merely stopped at some point; if you answer, “No”, it means that you continue to beat your wife.  Either way, you have shot yourself in the proverbial foot).  And there are many others — of “trick” questions to get you into the proverbial hot water.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition prevents you from performing one or more of the essential elements of your Federal or Postal job, the Standard Forms contain many and multiple trick questions.  They may not be intended to actually trick you, but the manner, form and content of your answer may become problematic in the way in which they are answered.

Contact a Federal Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and make sure that the “trick” question doesn’t do what it is meant to do: To trick you into answering it in a way which you don’t intend to, or otherwise shouldn’t need to.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Lawyer

 

OPM Disability Retirement: The Delay for Tomorrow

We tend to rely upon our memory of the past; if the sun set yesterday and the chickens squawked the day before, the repetitiveness of previous occurrences allow for the delay for tomorrow.  Yet, tomorrow’s circumstances may undermine yesterday’s reliance.  Circumstances change — especially in this day of fast-paced changes and the need to adapt accordingly.

Present circumstances — a medical condition; the growing impact of one’s medical condition upon your ability and capacity to continue in your career; these, and many other factors should play into consideration to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.  The delay for tomorrow is a natural instinct with all of us; we keep hoping that tomorrow will somehow change for the better, but with a medical condition, the unfortunate truth is the very opposite: Most medical conditions don’t simply go away, and instead reveal a stubborn persistence in their natural course of degeneration.

If filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS is something that you have thought of, but have set aside as the delay for tomorrow, consult with an OPM Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and make the delay for tomorrow the reality of necessity for today.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

FERS Disability Retirement from the OPM: Perfect Sequence

But that life could mimic the perfect sequence; but rarely does it reflect perfection.  It is well that human beings have short memories; the famous adage that one needs to learn from history, lest the tragedy that will occur of repeating it — is a lesson never learned, because each generation believes itself to be superior to the previous one, more wise, more learned; arrogant to a fault.

And how would we know what the perfect sequence would be, when we know not what perfection itself is?

That is the argument, of course, for the existence of a transcendent being: That because we possess a conception of perfection, but we ourselves are imperfect beings; therefore, there must be a God in order for an imperfect being to have a conception of perfection.  But real life rarely works that way; and so we muddle along in imperfect ways, failing to achieve any level of perfection, generation after tired generations; degenerating into a muddle of imperfections.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that this condition prevents the Federal or Postal employee from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, preparing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application requires engaging in a sequence of formulations.  No case can encapsulate a perfection of sequences, but one can certainly come close.

Being an imperfect being, it is important to consult with a Federal Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law in order to reach — as closely as possible — a perfection of sequences in maneuvering the complex bureaucratic process of Federal Disability Retirement Law.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Medical Retirement for Federal Employees: The World in Upheaval

These are chaotic times; all around us, the things we relied upon, the places we visited regularly, the people we gathered with — crumbling, coming apart, corona virus.  Sometimes, it seems too much to bear.  How will this all end?

The uncertainties of life, the inability to fathom a future of promise; hope once dashed is the one fate we all dread.  Has there ever been a precedent of a similar sort?  Is there a model that we can point to where we can have a paradigm for comfort?  Perhaps in one’s personal life?

Chaos and upheaval in the world around us may seem like the world is falling apart; yet, for many, the experience of the world in upheaval is akin to the Federal or Postal worker suffering from a medical condition where the medical condition impacts one’s ability and capacity to perform the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job.  The microcosm of life now reflects upon the macro-reality of the greater world.

Federal Disability Retirement is still an option to consider for the Federal or Postal worker whose world has been in an upheaval — not necessarily from the corona virus, but from a medical condition that has disrupted the career of a Federal or Postal worker.

Consult with a Federal Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and begin the process of preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Federal Disability Retirement Lawyer