OPM Medical Retirement under FERS: A Proper Assessment

Of what?  A problem?  One’s life — where one ascribes to the Socratic view that an unexamined life is not one worth living?  Of one’s current circumstances — however dire at first glance, is likely overstated and over-analyzed.

We often over-state current problems in terms of obstacles unable to be overcome, and fail to assess them within the context of past issues and future unknowns.

How often have we looked back at our past and quipped with wonderment, Boy, did that seem like something we would never be able to get out of — but somehow, we persevered and overcame and arrived relatively unscathed.

As to current problems, we always over exaggerate and state thus:  “This time, it is different. There is no way out.”  We often get embroiled in the weeds of current issues, thinking that no one else has ever become so stuck, with no way to get out.  What about a proper assessment of a case?  How strong is your case; what are the weaknesses?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a serious injury or disability such that this injury or disability no longer allows you to continue in your career of choice in the Federal sector or the Postal Service — it is best to first put all of the potential hazards and roadblocks in front of your path, and see if they can be overcome.

Problems never resolve of themselves — well, actually, they sometimes do.  But in the case of preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under the FERS system, through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), it is best to begin with a proper assessment of your case, then proceed with deliberate consciousness of the strengths and weaknesses which will be faced as the bureaucratic process with OPM begins.

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: When Strange Became Normal

When it became so, one can never pinpoint with any accuracy, or even on a wide spectrum, with any certainty.  Time was, a person of some oddity would stand out; perhaps, at school, someone would come in with a daring, colorful shirt; or, if a girl wanted to be “really wild”, dyeing one’s hair a shade of green — but only on or near Saint Patrick’s Day.

Conformity was the norm; to be strange, to stand out, was a status of avoidance.  Nowadays, everyone feels free to be quirky, to be set apart, to allow for “self-expression” to conjure up pink hair one day, spiked orange the next, and walk backwards on Thursdays and sideways on Tuesdays.

When did strange become normal?  Is it a good thing?  Should there be any judgment at all, or should the loss of conformity be the set standard, thus becoming the rule of conformity by being a nonconformist?  What does it say about a society where “self-expression” holds such an important exactitude of regularity?

And when “strange” really is strange — as just before a rampage of killing and mayhem — but we fail to notice it and cannot stop it because when strange became normal, we have just accepted it; then, is there any sense in talking about “communities” or “standards”?  Can “abnormal” be distinguished from “normal” if strange became normal?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who comprehend becoming a stranger in an otherwise normal environment — because, in the end, a medical condition which impacts one’s career and ability/inability to perform one’s job, is akin to a “strangeness” viewed by others as an anomaly — you may want to consider preparing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS.

For, when strange continues to remain strange, and your agency doesn’t allow you to become “normal” because they treat you as an outcast because of your disabling medical condition — then, it is time to consider filing for FERS Disability Retirement benefits.

Contact a FERS Disability Retirement attorney who specializes in OPM Disability Retirement Law, and consider that, whether strange ever becomes normal, for you, it is time to prepare for a different career beyond the Federal Agency which considers you to be strange already.

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.

 

Legal Representation for Federal Disability Claims: In a Mirrorless World

Would it be placed in a science fiction genre, or perhaps a horror story?  Or perhaps shot with a grainy-grey film in a pre-modern totalitarian regime?  Would it even be possible, today?

Perhaps in an isolated country like North Korea, such a mandate would be possible — of a mirrorless world where the “self” cannot be recognized.  Of course, there would still be the possibility of a reflection in a pool of water, or a glass door, a reflective surface, etc., which allows for one to view that “somebody” who is distinctively a different self from “others”.

When does a child — a toddler — begin to identify a distinctive entity unique and separate from others?  Does it occur only after a certain accumulation of experiences involving encounters with the objective world?  Does a person without a memory of past experiences ever identify one’s “self” from others?

In a mirrorless world, would we all be selfless automatons who work cooperatively as a singular unit?

For the Federal or Postal employee who sees him/herself in the mirror and finds a “self” different from the one who first entered the Federal workforce, is that image of the individual who now must change a career, consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, etc., any different now with a medical condition than that person who was once healthy?

That “self-image” and how we view ourselves is important: Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is not the end of that “self” who was once productive, vibrant, interesting and full of energy; rather, it is merely positive change for the future in a mirrorless world which fails to reflect a future still bright and promising.

Contact an OPM Lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and forget about the mirrorless world which fails to take into consideration the reflective totality of who you are.

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 Benefits: Daily Concerns

Most of us are so focused upon our daily concerns that we have no time for the intermediate and long-term issues which are also important in maintaining a balanced and productive life.

We are so busy with living life — of just getting through the day, whether it is to make a living, performing our duties, fulfilling our obligations, or attending to the needs which require our full energies just for the period of time before our eyes; that, by the time the day ends, we are so exhausted that we have no time for anything else.

Technology was supposed to be the saving grace — of allowing for greater efficiency, thereby resulting in leisure time and greater focus upon creative pursuits.  Email; Smart Phones; the ability to work remotely; all of these were promises to enhance and enrich the life of modern man.  It turns out, however, that such technology merely forced upon us a greater quantity of daily concerns in a more intense, abbreviated manner.

We now have more things to do, but with greater immediacy, such that the daily concerns have squeezed out time-blocks of quietude and down-times.  Then, when a crisis hits — like a medical condition resulting in an inability to continue in one’s career — it merely becomes one more daily concern which replaces time needed to consider intermediate or long-term goals.

Contact a Federal Lawyer who specializes in Federal or Postal Disability Retirement Law if you are a Federal or Postal employee under FERS needing to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.  For, the daily concerns of attending to your medical conditions should never squeeze out the time needed to secure Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.

Leave the law to the expert who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and leave the daily concerns of your medical conditions to the doctors who are treating you.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill
Federal Disability Attorney

 

Postal & Federal Employee Disability Retirement: The Waiting Game

Doctors are good at it.  They have studied the psychology of impatience.  First, the 15 minute wait in the reception room.  Impatience sets in around that time.  Thus, the transfer into the private patient’s room — but still no sign of the doctor.  No matter; the transfer itself has “renewed” the patient’s patience.  20 minutes there.  Then, an “intake” person asks some questions, then disappears.  This allows for another 10 – 15 minutes.

It is the “incremental” approach — of satisfying the irritation of waiting just enough so that another duration of waiting is allowed for.  If you break up an hour’s worth of waiting into increments of 20 minutes, it doesn’t seem so bad.

Bureaucracies, however, don’t care.  For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who need to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, it is often the “waiting game” which is most difficult.  Then, of course, when there is a denial from OPM, it takes that much longer.

No one can guarantee a first-stage approval from OPM, but making sure that an OPM Disability Retirement application is formulated and prepared as best as possible will at least enhance the chances of an approval at any stage, and thus will subvert and undermine the waiting game.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Employee and Postal Worker Medical Disability Pension: Perspective

We all have one.  When we fail to recognize that others, also, have one — and one which is different from ours — that is when we get into arguments, disputes, irreconcilable differences, etc.

The complex Kantian position of ordering the universe through a structural imposition of an otherwise chaotic reality gets filtered down to the ordinary person’s understanding that, yes, we come from different places, distinctive upbringings and alien cultures.

It makes a difference upon how we view the world.  Some are eternal optimists; others, bedtime pessimists.  Some view others skeptically; others, with open arms and “you’re my best buddy” upon a first encounter.

Conformity by society quashes the unique soul, and so we come to expect everyone else to have a similar, restrictive perspective.  When others step outside of the demarcation of acceptable perspective, we often find it threatening.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition no longer allows for the Federal or Postal worker to perform all of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal position, a necessary change of perspective often occurs.

No longer is the Federal Agency the friendly place of reserve; no longer is the Federal Agency looking out for your best interests; and no longer is your Human Resources Office of the Federal Agency the “helpful” department.

Contact an OPM Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and begin to conform to a world comprised of an adversarial perspective.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Attorney

 

Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) Disability Benefits: Obstacles

There are many in life; whether of financial, physical, intellectual or emotional; whether we are born with certain God-given talents or lack them in excess of explicit ignorance; or whether we are born with that proverbial “silver spoon in our mouths” or not, the burden we carry is like John Bunyan’s heavy knapsack, of the sins we create and carry.

Some obstacles are objectively in existence and have no relationship to the ones we create; others, within ourselves and created by the ghosts of our past deeds.  To what extent are the obstacles which prevent us from advancing merely the emotional difficulties we bring about?

Certainly, this world is an “unfair” one — one in which who one is born to, where one is a citizen of, and to which “class” we belong to plays a large role in who we can become; and in the end, sheer will and determination to succeed may not be enough.  The 5’ 10” young man who is born with spindly legs and lack of coordination will likely never become a professional basketball player no matter how hard he tries; and the individual who lacks a foundation of talent in any given area certainly faces obstacles beyond the reach of dreams or hopes; but is that the definition of “fairness” or “unfairness”?

Early on, it is important to assess one’s circumstances, talents and opportunities, and tailor our goals accordingly.  Should you “shoot for the stars”, nevertheless?  Possibly — but still, with an objective assessment.

How about when you engage in a process like filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits?  Should you make a similar assessment about the obstacles to be faced?  As in life generally, so should the same rules apply before entering the complex arena of Federal Disability Retirement Law.

As trying to obtain a Federal Disability Retirement annuity presents multiple obstacles, so should the Federal or Postal employee contemplating filing for the benefit of Federal Disability Retirement reach out to a FERS Disability Retirement Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and consider the options, the difficulties — the obstacles — before pursuing such a benefit.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement Representation: The Chosen Word

Words chosen bespeak of the artfulness of the one who chooses them, but the true artist remains anonymous and allows for the words themselves — the “artwork” of the word-meister — to make its quiet impact.  It is the vehicle of communication; it is the goal of the sentence, the “umph” of the connotation and the hyperbole of a paragraph’s ending.

In a universe inundated by words — some would argue that the essence of modernity is people merely spewing out words, because that is all we ever do, now, and can do, is to talk a lot without getting anything accomplished — and thus the importance of the chosen word, or more precisely, the carefully chosen word, becomes all the more significant.

In this post-modern era, the question is no longer about Truth or Falsity; rather, it is about sifting through the maze of overabundance, where the impact of words fail us precisely because we can no longer appreciate the subtlety of connotations, derivations, implications and innuendo.  As brashness blunts the art of derivative meaning, so overabundance of words dilutes the craftsmanship of a well-composed sentence.

It is like the orchestra with one too many violins; the extra becomes an overkill to the sensitive ear that cannot differentiate because the sounds of repetition dulls the distinctiveness of each.  Words await to be chosen, lost in the void and vacuum of unused dictionaries, and in this age of the Internet, forever relegated to the ethereal universe of the vanquished scenery of outcasts and extinguished, waiting to be rescued for an insertion into a sentence, a hyperbole within a parenthetical clause, or a hyphenated relevance amidst a sea of declarative thoughts.

For the Federal employee or Postal worker who must consider preparing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to be ultimately submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, the thing to remember is that the final Federal Disability Retirement “package” that is filed with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is a “paper presentation” of a bunch of jumbled words — “jumbled”, unless each has been carefully chosen in order to communicate effectively, well, and persuasively.

It is the untying of the knot of complexity, the smooth and controlled sequence of words that become aggregated into a paragraph, then a full page, and in the end, it is the chosen word precisely crafted, picked like the ripened fruit of ideas that must persuade and win over the thousands of worthless and meaningless other words that will fail the test of an OPM Disability Retirement application — and like that perfectly chosen word, be careful to choose which word-meister you hire to represent you in this most important of endeavors!

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Attorney Representation for OPM Disability Claims: The unknown world

It is that part of the universe that is often seen as the “far side of the moon”, where shadows befall and eyes never perceive, witnesses never survive and documents don’t exist.  Mount Everest was once that world; galaxies outside of our own, despite our best efforts to invent and create greater and stronger telescopes, or ones that float in the nothingness of outer space and send back digital images that are obscure and indistinguishable from inkblots accidently spilled upon a sheet of white paper, but somehow scientists can discern great discoveries by pointing to colors, hue, magnified analogs and complex algorithms that leave the rest of us scratching our heads and declaring, “You got all of that from this picture?”

There was life once on Mars and Jupiter since contained icicles that entrapped microbes billions of years ago, and just through a photograph of a fuzzy specter that the rest of us would have interpreted as Bugs Bunny leaning against a fencepost eating a carrot stick.  But of unknown worlds and the far side of the moon where shadows rest upon and hide the human toil of secrets and conspiracies, the truly mysterious one is the subjective mind of the person sitting next to you.  Yes, yes, it may not appear that way – perhaps each time you ask a question of that individual, he or she merely grunts and states in the same monotone of boredom and unexcitable drone, “Yep. What of it?”

And so when PBS or the National Geographic Society has some show about the complexity of the human brain, the neurons and the micro-conceptual foundations that make up the universe of human circuitry, dreams, images, thought-processes, Freudian and other “-ians” that delve into the human mind of the conscious, subconscious and unconscious and all spectrums in between, you turn, look at that same person and say, “Not.”  Or, that person one day does something completely out of the ordinary and during his lunch break takes out a book – say, Kant’s classic on the foundations of metaphysics, or some such esoteric material, and proceeds to mumble to himself, and you say, “Gee, didn’t know he was into that.”  But then you again try and engage him with, “So, what are you reading?”  And the familiar refrain comes back: “Yep. What of it?”  Beyond disappointments and non-engagements with universes parallel, mysterious and already predicted, there is still that “subjective” universe where pain remains, medical conditions are hidden and plans for the future are yet to be expressed.

That is the netherworld of the Federal or Postal employee who must contemplate preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset.  It is also the world of “cat-and-mouse” – of when to tell the Federal agency or Postal service of your intentions; how much to tell; when to submit the Disability Retirement packet so that it obtains the greatest advantage against the Federal agency or Postal Service; and all of the complexities in between.

Yes, there are still “unknown worlds” and universes; you just became too much a part of it to recognize the wonder of it all, because the guy next to you keeps burping and saying, “Yep. What of it?”

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Medical Retirement under FERS & CSRS: What we have to do

In once sense of the phrase, it denotes a duty or obligation; in another, the foundational basis of a practical, pragmatic nature – of that which we do, simply because it needs to be done in order to survive, to maintain a certain standard of living, or because we believe it is the “right” thing to do.  Each individual must decide for him or herself, of course, as to the criteria by which to determine that which we have to do, and the “what” will often be placed on a wide spectrum of moral ends that are meant to justify the means by which to proceed.

What we have to do – it is also a phrase that is said when shaking one’s head, as in the whispering to one’s self in gritting one’s teeth or biting our tongue and engaging in a soliloquy of thoughtful silence, saying, “What we have to do.”

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, despite the medical condition beginning to prevent the Federal or Postal worker from performing one or more of the essential elements of the Federal or Postal position, it is a familiar refrain – of working through the pain, of trying to endure the paralyzing panic attacks or the heightened anxiety and depression that pervades, and to try and hide the medical condition and do what we have to do in order to economically survive – until it reaches that crisis point where the medical condition cannot be controlled, cannot be hidden, and comes bursting out like NFL players running through the tunnel from the locker rooms of one’s mind and body.

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 just one of those other things that can be characterized as what we have to do.  For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who have a medical condition that begins to impede and prevent the Federal or Postal worker from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, the filing itself of an effective Federal Disability Retirement application is what we have to do, especially if the alternative is to stay at the job or walk away with nothing, which are actually no choices at all.

What we have to do – a familiar refrain for the Federal or Postal employee, and a necessary next step if you suffer from a medical condition that impedes or prevents you from performing one or more of essential elements of your job.  After all, you’ve been doing what you have to do all of your life, and this is just one more instance of it.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire