OPM Disability Retirement under FERS: Flavor’s Envy

Modernity is typified by envy, although no one will admit it.  Envy is aroused when people discover that others possess and enjoy multiple flavors as opposed to the limited ones left for the common element.  Life’s flavors were once quite limited; you worked, ate, possessed a few items and hoped to marry, have children and live a somewhat rewarding life.

Today, with so many reality television shows displaying the extravagance of celebrities, the super-wealthy and those who own half of Hawaii and other exotic locations, flavor’s envy has become widespread.  The antonymic corollary to envy, of course, is discontent — which is likely more prevalent than envy itself.

Envy and discontent go hand in hand, which is precisely why it is never a good idea to go to high school reunions, or any reunions, for that matter.  For, flavor’s envy is always enhanced when one compares one’s past circumstances to the present and current status, and then with it the infringing thoughts of discontent prevail upon us: What could have been; the downtrodden sense of loss and envy.

Flavor’s envy has diffusely spread throughout every corner of society, and the dystopian narrative that many wealthy view as a coming reality — that there will be a world crisis and properties must be protected against the collapse of society — has resulted in private security firms being hired in anticipation of disasters foretold.

Society’s thread is thin and flimsy; it doesn’t take much for a flashpoint to ignite, these days, and flavor’s envy continues to spread in an invisible, microbial manner.  The great “equalizer”, if there is one, is that we are all mortal, and health becomes a reality check for everyone.  When one’s health becomes threatened, flavor’s envy becomes an irrelevancy because, without the former, the latter loses its meaning.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from an illness or disability such that the illness or disability prevents the Federal employee or Postal worker from performing one or more of the basic elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, flavor’s envy fails to have any essential meaning, precisely because the most important element of one’s life has become threatened: Health.

Contact a FERS Disability Attorney who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement Law and consider that Flavor’s Envy is merely a figment and chimera when compared to the importance of focusing upon one’s 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 Retirement Claims: The Question First Appeared

In the theory of evolution of Man, when did it first supposedly occur?  Certainly, other species engage in query — for, isn’t suspicion and cautionary approach a form of a question?

When a trap is set and a squirrel approaches the contraption cautiously, isn’t the suspicious caution a form of a question?  What is it?  Is it safe?  Why does it have food inside of it?  Or the mouse which manages to eat the cheese without triggering the killer-mechanism — is it just by chance that it steps lightly around the trap?

Are such actions precursors of non-verbal queries before the actualization of a question mark?  And in modernity, when we walk about our lives but fail to ask the questions needed — is it significant when the question first appears, or has the question been around unasked but manifested by the actions we have been taking?

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, the question first appeared in a non-verbal form when you began to have difficulties performing one or more of the essential elements of your job, post-appearance or indication of a medical condition.

The question first appeared long ago; and, now, the question mark itself is beginning to multiply, albeit in a more pronounced, verbalized form: Will I be able to continue like this?  Have others noticed my deficiencies?  How much longer before my performance is no longer acceptable?

All such questions are relevant, but the most pressing one out of the many of the questions first appearing should be: Should I contact an OPM Disability Lawyer about Federal Disability Retirement?  For, that question has likely been around for some time, but the question first appeared when you realized that your medical condition was and remains incommensurable with the positional duties of your Federal or Postal position.

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.

 

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

 

FERS Disability Retirement from OPM: The Other Person

When we were young, a sense of invincibility can set in even when tragedy strikes others, and we are always — somehow — left to spare.  Perhaps we begin to believe that we are “special”, or that fate has something unique for us; or even that our genetic make-up is somewhat superior than others.

Whatever the reasonings, it is always “the other person” who is hit with the bad luck, the seasonal flu, the chronic illness, the bad relationship, left without an umbrella on a rainy day, and multiple other small and larger calamities.  But time and age take care of such things; at some point in life, the “other” person becomes you — and the youthful you becomes the other person who looks at you and says, “I must be different”.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition now prevents you from performing one or more of the essential elements of your Federal or Postal position, you are now that other person — the one who needs to consult with an attorney to discuss the possibility of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

What you do not want to do is to become like the other person who fails to act, and instead lives out the calamity without a hopeful future.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal & Postal Disability Retirement: Meaning of life

Most of us are too busy to pause for air, reflect upon theoretical, hypothetical or philosophical issues that have little to do with day-to-day living or earning wages in order to maintain a certain standard of living.  Every now and then, however, when the tumults of life’s encounters reaches a pinnacle of unsolvable problems such that the stressors exceed the barometric pressure allowable for the human psyche to withstand, there is a compelled stoppage, a mandated cessation and a forced condemnation to rest.

It is, in short, called a “medical condition”.

It is when we become debilitated, destroyed, distraught and disillusioned that we begin to ask such universal, exhaustive and unnatural (by this term is meant with a rhetorical question:  What other animal in nature asks such questions, and thus do we posit them as “unnatural”) to the core queries that, as Bertrand Russell once wittily quipped, is likely the result of indigestion.

What do we mean when we ask such questions; of looking up at the ceiling with furrowed eyebrows and inquiring, “What is the meaning of all of this?”  It is, of course, the focal point of “this” that one must then turn to, for such a word is obscure, undefined and like a blank space to be filled, can be interpreted in an eternity of ways depending upon the context of the query.

Is the “this” referring to the pain, suffering and debilitating medical condition being experienced?  Is it about the “unfairness” of it all and the fact that others seem to be roaming this earth carefree, careless and thoughtless as to one’s pain, whether physical, emotional or cognitive?  Or does the “this” reference the connection of all of that striving, the hours and commitment to work – of a loyalty to a Federal Agency or the Postal Service who cares not about your medical condition, may not have even noticed your absence (at least for the time being until someone finally notices the pile of work backing up on the desk of that…what was her name?) and likely thinks of individuals as mere cogs in a wheel, replaceable and fungible.

In the end, Russell was probably right; such questions about the “meaning of life” are beyond the comprehension of any level of rationality, belief or coherency that has any real impact upon our lives to make a true difference.  What really matters, in the end, is not that “philosophical” query about the meaning of life, but about human contact, relationships, and securing a future for ourselves and our families.

To that end, preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset is an important next step for the Federal or Postal employee who can no longer continue in the career position of his or her choice.  For, filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application actually does answer the question, “What is the meaning of ______”; it may not be the grand concept of “life” itself that completes that blank, but it sure beats walking away with nothing by obtaining an annuity to secure one’s future so that other things in life may be enjoyed.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Employment Early Medical Retirement: That state of cognitive dissonance

For all other species, even a momentary state of unawareness can mean death.  Predators seek the narrow window of advantage; that is the evolutionary determinism which propagates death, and shows mercy of life for those who close all such seams of opportunities; or so the Darwinian theory goes.  Man possesses a peculiar capacity to become lost in thought; whether in daydreaming, deep in slumber; contemplation amidst conceptual constructs of word pictures dancing before one’s eyes; we can walk in a funk or a daze, and drive long distances on super highways and at the end of the trip, not recall a single moment of how we got there.

Do words promulgate action?  Does instinct necessitate reaction?  Does the plethora of informational datum result in the intermediary of thoughts, first, then of engaging with the objective world?  Most of us have periods of cognitive dissonance — that aggregate of formless thought not having a consistency of connections between mindfulness, decisions, actions and judgments; it is only when there arises a lobotomy of capacity to care for one’s self from the daily necessities of life, that suddenly it becomes important enough for people to notice.

How such a species of that of a human being can survive these centuries while increasingly expanding into cognitive dissonance is a mystery to behold.  Whether by loss of awareness through technology; of staring vacantly at computer and smartphone screens, or merely enjoying the fantasy of daydreaming; perhaps the disappearance of open predatory behavior has dulled the once-sharpened edge of instinctive survival mechanisms.  But, in fact, there are wolves around, and they abound in plenitudes of concealment.  They just don’t advertise themselves in that way.  Just ask the Federal employee or U.S. Postal worker who suffers from a medical condition, such that the medical condition begins to impact one’s productivity and capacity to show up for work, whether or not predators exist in a the workplace.

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, can be a form of escapism for many who are threatened by the modern carnivore wandering through civil society.  The ruthless exploitation upon the preys of modernity are not necessarily limited to the impervious universe of wildlife in Nature; it can all occur before our very eyes, in those rare states of clarity and sagacity when our normal state of cognitive dissonance becomes momentarily suspended in order to see the reality of a circumstance which necessitates the proper preparation, formulation and filing of an effective Federal Disability Retirement application to the U.S. Office of personnel Management.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement: The Causal Contingency

If X, then Y; but the problem is that most of us want to skip over the predicated contingency, and move directly to the conclusion without the necessary and sufficient satisfaction of attending to the prerequisite of X.  The consequences of such inaction, or impatience in order to achieve the end-goal, is that when the subversive act of avoidance and disregard results in the inevitable and disastrous compulsion of causal catastrophe, we then attempt to “make up” for “lost time”, and quickly engage in band-aid devices to try and rectify the original misdeed.

Some things in life just don’t work that way; in fact, despite the insistence by millennials that longterm foundations don’t matter (either because the gods are dead, life is absurd, or self-centeredness will get us through the day), it is the artisan and the craftsman who, when the technological innovations and newfangled fads whisper into the fading glow of yesterday’s moonshine, retains the longevity of sustenance and substantive accord.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition begins to impact and prevent the Federal or Postal worker from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal positional duties, the inclination is to panic, to rush around like a chicken with its head lopped off by a prowling owl of the dawn skies, and to quickly formulate a Federal Disability Retirement application and submit it through one’s own Human Resource Office (if still with the Federal agency or the U.S. Postal Service or, if separated but not more than 31 days thereafter) or directly to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (if separated for more than 31 days but not more than 1 year after the separation or termination date).  But the operative word in such a scenario is ensconced in the term, “prepare”.

To achieve an effective Federal Disability Retirement application outcome, one must prepare, formulate and file for OPM Disability Retirement benefits.  To jump over the “preparation” part, and to merely formulate and file, results in the disastrous outcome foreseeable and foreseen.  Just ask Jack, who still reels from the burn marks as he tried to jump over the candlestick.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal & Postal Disability Retirement: The Environment

There is pervasive talk about the importance of containing toxic waste dumps, keeping our air and water clean; of limiting the dumping of animal feces into our oceans, rivers, streams, etc.; and, indeed, there are agencies and departments created by State, Federal and Local governments devoted to enforcing laws designed to protect us and preserve the pristine condition of our “environment”.

But what of toxic environments of another sort?  What of the poison inserted through malicious intent?  Of the constant harassment and hostility used to intimidate, cower and attain submissive unraveling of defiance?  For those, there are designated courts, commissions and laws passed to protect, for purposes of prosecution and pursuit of money damages.  Of course, the results from either and both arenas of judicial relief are difficult to quantify; whether and to what extent pollutants were introduced into the environment, and by whom; or of what level of toxicity caused harm and damage to an individual; the qualitative measure of damages is always difficult to ascertain.

It is, ultimately, only from the personal perspective and experience that one can gauge the damaging results.  For the Federal employee and the U.S. Postal Worker who suffers from a medical condition, such that the medical condition begins to impact the capacity to perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, there is often a parallel track of pursuing Federal Disability Retirement benefits and concurrently to go after the individuals or organization that discriminated because of the disability acknowledged and recognized.  For the Federal or Postal employee who attempts to secure some semblance of “justice” in the process, the goal of the law has been misdiagnosed:  Justice is not the stated teleological motivation of statutory relief; rather, it is a means to appease.

But at what cost?  To what end?  By whose measure?

Filing for OPM Disability Retirement benefits, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, sets a specific goal:  cut one’s losses and move on in one’s life.  By filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the Federal and Postal employee is able to leave the toxic environment which may have even contributed to one’s medical condition or disability, or at the very least, exacerbated it; by fighting it, one must remain within the very environment which one is attempting to escape from.

Like Father Damien of Molokai who helped lepers live with dignity as a separate individual from without, but who later contracted the disease and died as “one of them” within, the Federal or Postal employee who files for Federal Disability Retirement benefits may want to consider the consequences of the dual track of environmental toxicity before taking on a behemoth of mythical proportions, as opposed to preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement in order to exit the poisoning atmosphere.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer: The Pastoral Painting

It is that which we strive to achieve; a moment of quietude, an aside of reserved inattention; that plateau where sheep graze silently in pastures green, and the distant echo of a neighbor’s dog barking is merely but a contour from the daily hubbub of reality.  Perhaps the pastoral setting is but an idealized paradigm; but, without it, there is a sense that life is pointless.  We may engage in daily meanderings and wonder about teleological issues on high; but, in the end, something more mundane is the normative constriction which compels us to act.

There is a scene in an old Western, where Mose Harper (who is played by Hank Worden) makes it known that all he wants at the end of his trials and travails is an old rocking chair to sit in, to rock the time away in the wilderness of the life he experiences.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition impacts one’s livelihood, the capacity to continue in one’s chosen career, and the ability to maintain a regular work schedule, filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is tantamount to that metaphorical rocking chair.  For some, it may not seem like much; but one doesn’t know (as the esteemed Paul Harvey used to say) “the rest of the story”, of whether and what Mose Harper did after a few tranquil evenings rocking away.

For the Federal and Postal employee, whether that Federal and Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, it must often be taken in sequential steps of advancement.  The idealized plateau as represented in a Pastoral Painting is often the first step in the process of further life-experiences; and just as Mose Harper asked only for a rocking chair at the end of the day, it is what happens the day after, and the day after that, which will determine the future course of one’s life beyond being an annuitant under FERS Disability Retirement.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement: Compartmentalizing

It may well be another evolutionary vestige to have the capacity to divide, separate, pigeonhole and compartmentalize; otherwise, the extreme bombardment of visual and auditory stimuli would be overwhelming, and perhaps untenable to one’s ability to process the volume and extent of the information needed to receive, analyze and comprehend.

What is relevant; what must be immediately attended and responded to; which sets can be procrastinated; where does this bit of data go to?  In this world of information technology, perhaps the human animal is best suited to amass and bifurcate into seamless paradigms of perceptual pinholes for proper processing.  But, of course, as with all things advantageous, there are elements of negative consequences.

For those who have limited capacity to effectively engage in such endeavors; and for those who suffer from medical conditions which limit and reduce such capacity.  Medical conditions tend to lower the tolerance for stress; and in this world of fast-paced technology, there is little room for empathy for those who cannot maintain the maddening spectrum of timeless busy-ness.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition begins to impact one’s ability and capacity to perform the essential elements of one’s job, the inability to withstand the level of stress is often the turning point of making the proper decision in preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal worker is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset.

Some may whisper that he or she is no longer able to “hack it” in the real world; others may simply sneer or snicker with purposeless pride of pernicious penchant for punishing pointedness.  But the reality is that there is almost always an intimate connection between stress, the capacity to tolerate stress, and health.

Health involves man’s ability to compartmentalize; and whether through the evolutionary mechanism of survival of the fittest, where those who became best at separating the relevant from the unimportant; or just because those who are able to bifurcate and comprehend happen to parallel the course of history in developing the complexities of the information age; whatever the reasons, the time of ultimate compartmentalizing comes in the self-recognition that it may be necessary to identify the source of one’s deteriorating health, and to allow that to be the impetus and compelling reason to begin the process of preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through OPM.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire