FERS Disability Retirement from OPM: Good to be Wrong

Every Federal Disability Retirement application contains some problems.  The ones which don’t — and they are few and far between — are what some call that rare “slam dunk case”.  But when it is characterized as such, the honest attorney — and the undersigned author of this blog considers himself such — simply tells the caller:  “Gather your medical records; fill out the forms and submit the packet; you don’t need a lawyer.”

All other type of cases have inherent problems, which comes with the territory.  For, when you deal with an agency which neither applies the law, nor is unbiased in its review and evaluation of each case; and, where the Agency believes that the money it is saving is tantamount to a protection of the evaluator’s personal bank account — well, you know and can guess what happens.

As every case is problematic, so every case has to be fought for.  A lifetime Federal Annuity (well, somewhat, as it is actually only until age 62, and then the Federal Disability Annuity is recalculated based upon the total number of years of service, including the time spent on FERS Disability Retirement) is not something that is easily given up by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management or the Federal Government; as such, it must be fought for.

This FERS Disability Attorney — the author of this blog — fights on behalf of his clients throughout all 3 stages of the process.  Other firms will often charge for each stage separately, or only for the first 2 stages, then abandons the client after that.

In having represented many, many clients over many years, one gets a “sense” of whether a Federal Disability Retirement case will be approved at the First Stage of the process, or whether there will be a “fight” and it will take either the Reconsideration Stage or the MSPB before a “win” is acquired.  Yet, there have been many, many cases when this attorney has also been wrong about this alleged “Sixth Sense” on any given case, and where OPM approved the case at the First Stage, even when the case is not overwhelming strong.

In such cases, it is good to be wrong.

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 Help: Problem Solving

How does one learn how to do it?  Does it begin in childhood, by “working” with toys, in being allowed the patience of time in “working things out”; of being taught that frustration comes when impatience intercedes and confuses the two conceptual entities:  of process and goal?  How much does a “helicopter” parent impede a child’s capacity to learn it?

You know — those parents who are constantly on their cellphones, hovering nearby; then, the parent suddenly looks up and sees the neglected child tottering on a dangerous ledge 2 feet high and rushes over to swoop the child to safety lest the poor child falls upon a soft bed of mulch below.

Of connecting train-tracks on the living room floor; figuring out that unless the tracks are properly connected, derailment will occur; Of putting the right letter into the matching slot; or, instead of the child being allowed sufficient time to “figure it out”, the parent — impatient and without the time because the next chore or appointment is upcoming — finishes the task for the child.

For the child, the “work” of life is comprised of being given sufficient time to solve the problems of play; if that is not learned and allowed for, the task of problem solving may well become a problem in and of itself.

For U.S. Government employees and Postal Service workers who suffer from a medical problem, such that the medical problem prevents the Federal or Postal Service employee from performing one or more of the basic elements of one’s Federal or Postal Service job, the problem of getting an approval from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the “Obstacle” problem:  There is a wall, and that wall is the obstacle, and the obstacle is comprised of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management — the Federal human resources agency which makes all determinations on Federal Disability Retirement applications.

How does one climb over the metaphorical wall?  Contact a FERS Disability Retirement Attorney who specializes in OPM Disability Retirement Law and leave the specialized problem-solving issue of obtaining an approval for a Federal or Postal Disability Retirement application to the FERS specialist who is uniquely trained in such problem-solving issues.

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.

 

Federal Medical Retirement: Eager Wishes and Little Thoughts

We all have them both, don’t we?  Of eager wishes: We wish for wealth; we wish for fame; we wish for friendship; we wish for love.  Wishes project us; they compel us; they motivate, even though such wishful thinking may never become fulfilled.  And so they remain little thoughts — “little” in the sense that they remain mere thoughts, mere wishes, with little chance for fulfillment.

It is often the little thoughts which loom large, if only because they reflect the fundamental needs and desires of most everyone.  Perhaps it is those little thoughts combined with eagerness which results in unfulfilled dreams and hopes, when the imagination expands beyond the monotony of our lives and we become sustained by the little thoughts, prompted by those eager wishes.

Much of life is a negation; of not having, of never fulfilling, of rarely achieving; and yet, when it comes to children, we fill their heads with grand dreams of illusory abstentions.  We tell them, “You can be whatever you want to be” or “live out your dreams”.  No wonder that cynicism easily and readily dominates in early life; and so the eager wishes and little thoughts replace the fairytales we tell our children, if merely to sustain their lives within the containment of reality.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a health condition such that the health condition necessitates preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, it may well be that the eager wish is to cease the madness encircling you between the disabling medical condition and your inability to perform all of the basic elements of your job.

It may seem like a “little thought” to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS, and your eagerness may be restricted by the daunting task of engaging a monster of a bureaucracy like the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.  But do not despair; such an eager wish upon a little thought may be attained through the assistance of a lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law.

Contact a disability attorney who exclusively does Federal Disability Retirement Law and begin to advance your eager wishes of the little thoughts which make for life’s sustenance.

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.

 

Federal Employee Medical Retirement: Choices

The anomaly: If we don’t know of them, we have none.  In the objective universe of a perfect world, we would know of each and every one, and moreover, the consequences of each were we to choose them.  As defined, wisdom is the capacity to take current experiences and project them for future application; but if a person is without knowledge of the availability of choices to be made, where can wisdom be applied?

One’s choices are limited by the lack of knowledge one possesses, or has access to.  That is why “insider trading” provides an unfair advantage of choices — of trading certain stocks and gaining wealth, precisely because one has obtained knowledge which others do not have access to, which allows for accumulation of greater wealth based upon the information obtained.

Once a person has access to relevant knowledge, then the avenue of choices opens up for that individual, and then the choices to be made determine whether or not such knowledge is put to good use.  “Good use”, of course, is the key in determining whether or not a wise choice has been made; for, even with relevant knowledge, a person is still able to act unwisely by making a bad choice.

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 choice to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS, through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, should be based upon relevant knowledge — of the laws, regulations and statutes pertaining to Federal Disability Retirement Law.

That being said, the choice of “going it alone” or of consulting and retaining a Federal Disability Attorney is entirely up to each individual.  However, the choice of wisdom should always listen to the small voice which begins with the path of wisdom: A person who represents himself has a fool for a client.

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.

 

Federal Disability Retirement: The Absent Life

Perhaps it describes one of your parents; or, of your own; or of a friend’s incessant complaints.  The absent life can be felt within, or described by those without.  Travel; the need to provide; of an emotional toil which robs one of human feeling and suffering; of traumatic experiences which have dulled the senses and made you feel as if you are disconnected from the rest of the world; these, and more, constitute and represent the absent life.

Often, medical conditions can overwhelm and dominate, and you may feel that you are not “really there” — even of Long COVID symptoms where you cannot get yourself back “into” the mental and physical activities which you were once a part of.  Being disconnected is often part and parcel of certain types of medical conditions, and you may no longer have the capacity to maintain the requisite and sustained focus and concentration in order to do your technically demanding administrative duties.

The Absent life is often an indication of a more serious issue, and you may want to contact an attorney if you are a Federal or Postal employee, to consider filing for FERS Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Your absences may be a factor, but physical absences are not the only kind of absences; you can be there, and not be there at the same time, and it is the absent life where an individual is not longer able to perform all of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, which may potentially qualify one for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.

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: Self-Doubt

We all go through such periods.  Whether real or imagined — and, often, the latter is of greater exponential magnification than the former — our sense of worth; our confidence of competence; our capacity to “get things done”, begins to wane.  Perhaps it is merely a period of lesser productivity; or, of intervening personal difficulties or tragedies others cannot penetrate.

We engage in self-doubt, perhaps without even being aware of it.  It is often helpful to have a “significant other” or some close friend to be blunt and honest, and to provide an objective, unbiased perspective.  Sometimes, it just takes an unequivocal statement: “Joe, you’re being too hard on yourself. You are still the same person as before”.  Or: “Susan, maybe you made a mistake here and there.  Don’t let it get you down; everyone makes mistakes.”  But of a medical condition, the devastation can be, not only of reduced physical or cognitive capacities, but often the greater problem of self-doubt.

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 all of the essential elements of his or her Federal or Postal job, self-doubt can be a devastating residual aftershock resulting from the diminished capacity as a consequence of the medical condition itself.  It may be time to prepare, formulate and file an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS, with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Contact a Federal Disability Attorney who specializes in OPM Disability Retirement Law, lest self-doubt not only follows upon the medical condition itself but, moreover, turns upon itself into self-loathing.

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 Law: The Skewed Perspective

Watching a television series — say, a crime story set in a certain town or suburban enclave — can bring about a myopic viewpoint about a county, a city, a state — even a country.

From watching such a series, one might conclude a number of things, including: A. Most people in that part of the country are bad people, B. That part of the country represents much of what it is like in the rest of the country, and C. The country as a whole is like that; therefore, I am moving to another country.

Now, one should be cautioned as to taking such drastic steps as stated in C above; and even A and B may be a perspective which fails to reflect reality.  First, murder-mysteries must normally involve — by necessity — a bunch of bad characters, and thus represent an extreme microcosm of moral failures within a narrow, compacted group of characters.  Second, stories told on television — whether in one episode or via multiple seasons — are based upon abbreviated biographies of individuals, and rarely represent a true picture of the greater community surrounding the murder-mystery.

Most of the people in the community likely live boring, uninteresting lives, and thus would not be brought into the storytelling within the context of the television show.  Thus, just as when you are telling a story at the dinner table to your friends and family about some interesting thing that happened to you, you will likely leave out the detail about how many times you went to the bathroom during the incident related; so, in parallel fashion, a television series will leave out many details which are monotonous and unrelated to the main plot.

It is the consequences of having a skewed perspective that is most troubling, of course — of “C” above, where you make a drastic decision based upon an untrue belief based upon a fictional depiction of an event.

Not filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS is somewhat like that.  You might have the wrong — skewed — idea about the process — that “no one ever gets approved” or that your specific medical condition somehow “doesn’t qualify”, and so therefore you don’t even try, and instead continue to devastate your health because of wrong assumptions.

On top of it all, the medical condition itself often contributes to the skewed perspective.

Contact a Federal Disability Lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and don’t let a skewed perspective undermine the reality of a life which is actually available to live.

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.

 

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Disability Retirement: The Drama of Life

There is drama everywhere — whether in theaters, local plays, movies or daytime soap operas, the drama of life is being played out.  “Drama”, “dramatic”, “melodrama” — whichever word or concept you apply, we all know what it means.  Most of us try to minimize it, avoid it, marginalize it — and the quick response to cut it down to size is often, “I’m not into that kind of drama” or, “Aren’t you being a bit over-dramatic?”

Once upon a time the fable of lessons learned included “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” — of that story with a moral lesson of the importance of truth-telling, and if you over-dramatized a lie too often, your reputation would suffer.  And so the moral of the story taught 2 things: “Truth” is important; creating drama for your own amusement would have consequences.

But in life, there are times when the drama of life cannot be avoided.  One such time is when a Federal or Postal employee is beset with 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.  That is a time when the drama of life must be faced, especially in terms of a career choice — of whether you can continue on, or file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.

Contact a Federal Lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and begin the process of facing up to the drama of life.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Lawyer
FERS Disability Retirement Attorney

 

FERS Disability Retirement: The Space Between Reality and Fantasy

We can live within a world of fantasy, so long as it does not abut against the world’s reality.  We can fantasize that we are “super heroes” — so long as we do not jump out of the window thinking that we can soar through the clouds.  Both worlds can be juggled without an internal — or even an external — contradiction.

Some indicators touch upon the edges of conflict — as when we are caught daydreaming; or a person begins to act too much in the “as if” universe of thoughts and dreams; and we become concerned when someone we know begins to express beliefs and theories which step outside of the spheres of acceptable and normative systems.

Medical conditions, however, tend to keep people “real”; for, the pain and debilitating symptoms do not allow for any space between fantasy and reality.  Rather, they jolt one into being “real” each and every day — except when it becomes necessary or prudent to conceal one’s condition, resulting in a smiling face which masks the pain, the energetic look which covers the fatigue, or the clarity of words which hides the confusion.

Federal and Postal workers often have to straddle the line between reality and fantasy when a medical condition begins to impact one’s ability and capacity to perform the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job.

When the two lines begin to blur, you need to contact an OPM Disability Attorney who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement.  For, in the end, the reality of a medical condition cannot be concealed for long, and the fantasy that the medical condition will simply go away cannot be endured.

Federal Disability Retirement benefits are there for the Federal or Postal worker who can no longer perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job.

Contact an OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement Law and make sure that the space between reality and fantasy is maintained.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Lawyer

 

Postal & Federal Disability Retirement under FERS: Adaptation

It is how a species survives — and even thrives — in the face of changing circumstances.  Human beings clearly have an adaptive advantage in comparison to other species; otherwise, how to explain the extinction of multiple others while the overpopulation of ours?

Scientists have noted the general utilitarian talents of our type — not the best at anything, but the capacity to compensate despite our lack.  But ours is no longer a world where physical adaptation is the primal key.  Rather, because of technology’s dominance, our cognitive ability to adapt is being tested.

More and more, the psychological stresses bombarding us test the capacity of the human species — and we are failing at every turn.  The stresses of daily life; the mental pressures; the voluminous demands for multi-tasking just to get through the day — and when a medical condition hits us, is it any wonder that we are unable to adapt?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who can no longer perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, “adaptation” may require filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.  To adapt is to recognize and change with the modifying forces of nature.

Consult with a Federal Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and begin the earnest process of recognizing that adaptation is necessary where change is inevitable.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire