FERS Disability Retirement: The Scroll of Life

The concept of a scroll is a fascinating one — with the anticipation of unfurling deep mysteries as the contents slowly reveal themselves, unraveling the words of ancient wisdom kept hidden within the curled papyrus, seeing the light of day for the first time in centuries.

We often imagine that such an object exists for each of our lives, kept in a pigeon-hole compartment, awaiting the unraveling in parallel fashion as future events are foretold.

The scroll of life, of course, is in reality within ourselves — in the actions we contemplate, the giving of ourselves to others, and the meaning we bring to this world — in short, the works we do in the world, within the allotted time we are given.

It is no less a mystery than the actual scrolls which were written upon and stored away in deep caverns where future generations would rediscover them and read them with renewed eyes, and when discovered, are viewed with sacred awe and treated with reverence.  But that human beings, who are the living scrolls of life, should each be treated with such reverence.

For FERS Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a chronic injury or illness and who believe that their scroll of life has been impeded and interrupted because of a medical condition, it is important to understand and recognize that life is not predetermined in a hidden  scroll, already dried with the ink of predestination but is still being written every day.

What you do and how you do it is still to be determined.  As such, if a Federal employee or Postal worker needs Federal Disability Retirement for future security, you should contact a FERS Disability Pension Lawyer who specializes in Federal Medical Retirement Law, to guide and assist you in writing upon the next page of the scroll of life.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill
Attorney exclusively representing Federal and Postal Service employees to secure their Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

 

Federal Disability Retirement: Annoyance or Irritant

They are both nouns, but the difference is one of perspective — of the view or angle from which it is felt, experienced, encountered or received.

To that end, it encapsulates the dichotomy between subjective and objective; for, the former normally refers to one’s subjective experience, the state of being or the sensation the “subject” experiences; while the latter refers to a substance — an “object” out there in the world outside of our internal, subjective sensations — which causes discomfort or a phenomena of displeasure.

An irritant may cause an annoyance, and an annoyance can be an irritant, and it is the classic distinction between the “inside” as opposed to the “outside” experience.  We can refer to certain chemicals, cleaning fluids and the like as irritants, but we normally do not declare that they constitute an annoyance; although, the linguistic lines are not so strict as to prevent a person from saying, for example, “That woman’s perfume is somewhat of an annoyance”.

On the other hand, one might refer to someone’s constant manner of clearing his or her throat in mid-sentence as an “annoyance”, but because it does not directly impact one’s own physical well-being, such a quirk is likely not referred to as an “irritant”, although one may use the adjective form of the word and confide that the person’s manner is “irritating”.

In the end, the two words are somewhat similar in meaning but reveal their differences from the aspect of perspective — of whom, or from where.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition where the medical condition prevents the Federal or Postal worker from performing one or more of the basic elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, it is important to understand and appreciate the distinction which the U.S. Office of Personnel Management often makes between “objective” evidence and “subjective” evidence.

OPM will often twist and misapply the law, and make you think that certain medical evidence deemed “subjective” are like second-class citizens and less than credible, and will insist that only “objective” evidence is acceptable.  Don’t let OPM fool you.

Contact a FERS Disability Lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and let not the ignorance of the law defeat your quest to obtain an approval from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and don’t let the word-games irritate or annoy you.

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: Ordinariness

That is what most of us are; but at the very beginning, should it be acknowledged, or is it better to puff up the ego when young, and allow for one to engage in the self-delusion of “otherwise”?

There is some comfort to it; yet, we all like to stand out from the rest of the crowd, and certainly, when trying to win the heart of a life-partner (yes, the term used in modernity, as opposed to the antiquated ones such as “spouse”, “husband”, “wife”, etc.), we strive to not be tagged with such a mundane label.  To be “ordinary” is to not be extraordinary.  But therein lies the comfort — of the warmth of being amongst others; as the sheep surrounded by the flock and not the loner out in the pasture, the sure target of wolves and other predatory eyes.

Moreover, when life takes a negative turn, no one wants anything but the yearning for ordinariness.  It is when we equate ordinariness with mediocrity that the sin of self-flagellation sets in.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS becomes a necessity, “ordinariness” is something you yearn for — to live the ordinary life without a medical condition; to continue your career in the Federal government; these, and much more, constitute the extraordinary life of the ordinary.

It is all a matter of perspective.  And so there it is: For most of us, being ordinary merely means that we accept our station in life; for in the end, it is the ordinary which runs the engine of society, and even though the Lamborghini may zoom past us, we all get to the same destination no matter in which car — the ordinary or the extraordinary.

Contact a FERS Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law and begin the process of embracing ordinariness, which is the location to where we all want to return.

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: King for a Day

We have all had that sense of triumphant euphoria, where all of the complex and disparate components of life’s makeup somehow coalesce into a coordinated bundle of seamless and effortless symphony; where life is great; your plans and dreams are bearing fruit; restorative rest has been attained; friends and family have resolved their differences; and at least for a day, you are the King.

But such a state of perfection never lasts beyond that day; and tomorrow brings problems, difficulties, contradictions and conflicts; for the secret of life itself is that ever since the fall of Adam, or of any tale of the origins of Paleolithic beginnings — the original sin of life never dissipated.

The frailty of the body; the fragile makeup of the mind; the emotional turmoil experienced daily by the stresses of a world gone berserk with technology and the cold, unfeeling environment of the human workplace; these, and more, tell the story not of kings and lords, but of pawns and sacrificial lambs.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition no longer allows you to remain a King — even for a day — it is time to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.  Chronic medical conditions which impact a Federal or Postal employee’s ability and capacity to continue in their chosen careers present an even greater challenge: Of the loss of any hope for betterment until health itself becomes a prioritized activity to pursue.

Contact a Federal Lawyer who specializes in OPM Disability Retirement Law and consider whether or not the loss of being the King for a Day is worth the price of continuing in a career which is no longer tenable.

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 Medical Retirement under FERS: Primary Questions

You can easily get entrenched within a morass of details.  Primary questions — those issues which, when addressed and answered, essentially take care of sub-questions and lesser categories of details — need to be identified and prioritized.

Many people are unable to recognize, identify and extract the primary questions.  Why? Because, if you are unfamiliar with the paradigmatic, upper echelons of the legal criteria being applied (for instance, in a legal matter), then how are you going to be able to “separate out” the proverbial grain from the chaff?

At all 3 of the main stages of a Federal Disability Retirement case — at the Initial Stage; if denied, at the Reconsideration Stage; if denied a second time, before an Administrative Judge at the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board — it is important to either preemptively or actively discern and discard the unimportant side-issues, and to focus upon the primary questions in a Federal Disability Retirement case.

The rule of life always applies: Prioritize; identify the primary questions and issues; take care of what is relevant; then, the rest of the “minor details” will often naturally fall to the wayside.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Lawyer

 

Postal & Federal Medical Retirement: The Commodity of More

Of course, by definition, a commodity purchased or otherwise acquired is “more” — but that is not what is meant, here.  The commodity of more implies a greater good beyond the acquisition of the thing itself.  We buy things not for the thing itself; rather, we are sold the goods because of what they represent.  Otherwise, why do companies spend so much on advertising?

If the thing itself is so valuable and needed — or wanted — to such a great extent that it would sell without the “extras” of advertisements, then companies would merely place them on shelves and each morning, like the breadlines in the old Soviet Union, there would be a great clamor to purchase the product.

No — the products we buy are attached to the symbols they represent; of greater status; of more leisure; of increased comfort and superior lifestyle; of a life representing success.  But here is the catch: The commodity of more is like that proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back; at some point, the “more” becomes the greater stress that makes everything less — less worthwhile, less attractive; less enjoyable.  Especially when a medical condition enters the picture-perfect portrait of life.

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 job, consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits when the commodity of more has reached a breaking point.

Consult with a FERS Disability Lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and consider whether or not the commodity of more might not be traded in for a life of less — less stress, less failure, less deterioration of one’s health.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Employee Disability Retirement: Where We Are

The Federal Government is operational; the U.S. Office of Personnel Management continues to make decisions on Federal Disability Retirement cases, whether at the initial level of determination or at the Reconsideration Stage.

Further, because Federal Disability Retirement hearings at the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board have always been conducted by telephone, there has been minimal interruption in Federal Disability Retirement appeals which have been filed with the MSPB.

Covid-19 has had a devastating impact upon the United States in so many ways — of the human toll; the death toll; the economic devastation; the strain upon the hospitals; and the fear, isolation and destruction upon the lives of so many.  Fortunately, the employment sector least impacted has been Federal employees, except in terms of exposure and co-morbidities.

If Covid-19 has been a deciding factor in needing to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, contact and consult with an OPM Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

FERS Medical Retirement from the OPM: The gods of modernity

Each era has its false gods — of Greek ones that explained the mysteries underlying the universe; of religions that conquered by the sword; of Philosophers and Kings who ruled with an iron fist; of Freud, Psychoanalysis and other ghosts in the machine; and in modernity, of youth and the cult of the young, and perhaps of the authors of self-help books who have cornered the market on wisdom replaced.

The gods of modernity are different from those of a generation ago; the “I” and the “me” that pervades on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; of the perfect “me” who takes selfies at every opportunity to reinforce and remind of the hollowness of the gods we make of ourselves; and in the end, the loneliness that one is left with when the screen is shut down and one is left with the reality of facing one’s self in the loneliness of a perception that cannot be faced in the mirror of one’s own reflection.

And of the other gods of reality: Perfection in perception.  But what happens if perception must encounter reality?  That is often the problem with a medical condition — for, medical conditions remind us of the ugliness of the world around: of mortality, vulnerability, and the loss of societal empathy for all things imperfect.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition no longer allows one to be “perfect” in the workplace, and where the essential elements of one’s job can no longer be met, it is time to consider preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application so that the focus of one’s life can be redirected in order to regain one’s health.

The gods of modernity — of a career, of never-ending competence and productivity in one’s Federal or Postal job — must be replaced with a revaluation of what is truly important in life: Health, sanity, and some semblance of caring.  And while securing a FERS Disability Retirement annuity may not be the answer to all of life’s ills, it will at least secure a future in order to focus upon getting better, and perhaps reorienting one’s focus upon a future that may be different and better.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire
OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer

 

Federal Disability Retirement: The infinite we seek

What is it about the things which defy limit; endless and vast beyond our capacity to comprehend, and yet we cling to concepts that cannot possibly be embraced precisely because the finite cannot delimit the infinite; for, to do so is a contradiction in terms?  Does language capture the infinite?  By knowing its definition, is there anything beyond being able to cite the description of the concept?  Why is it that some concepts are denied comprehension even though we can, by rote memory or simply by looking it up on our Smartphone and regurgitating that which someone else has written, describe and delineate?

Say, for instance, a lay person asks a Cardiac Specialist what is involved in a heart transplant, and Doctor X explains to Information-Seeker-Y the process of how the body is opened up, the various veins, ventricles, etc., snipped here and severed there, and what the dangers are, the risks posed, etc.  At the end of the explanation, we somehow feel satisfied that we have been informed of a procedure which we have never experienced, likely never witnessed and certainly will never undertake — yet, we believe we “understand’ the process.

Similarly, can a blind man who can explain the complete process involved in flying a plane say that he “understands” it fully?  And what is the fine print involved in “fully” as opposed to “partially”?  Yet, if we give the definition of “the infinite” as involving X, Y and Z, and “fully” delineate and explain the conceptual apparatus that makes up our understanding of it, nevertheless, in the end we are allowed to say, “But no one really understands what the infinite is, because we are finite beings.”

That is partially the brilliance of Anselm’s Ontological argument — of defining the infinite as “That than which nothing greater can be thought of” — a jumble of confusing words which seemingly bifurcates the finite from the infinite, but juxtaposes them in an aggregation which makes it seem like it makes sense.  In the end, it is best to know one’s own limitations and, by doing that, at least we can possess the knowledge that humility leads to greater wisdom through finite means of grasping the infinite.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who recognize the enormity of the process of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS, through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, it is best to understand that the “infinite” — as defined as that which is limitless, endless and beyond measurability — can be applied to a bureaucratic process that involves multiple layers of incomprehensible complexities.

The infinite is a conundrum; the Federal process of preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits is analogous to the infinite.  As such, it is wise to seek the counsel and advise of someone who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law — of a being who is that than which nothing legally can be thought of (i.e., an attorney who exclusively handles only Federal Disability Retirement cases).

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

FERS Disability Retirement from the OPM: Changes we resist

It is almost a tautology; two words placed together as synonyms; and, indeed, the word “change” and its neighbor, “resist” have a commonality that cannot be avoided: Both imply an alteration and a sense of life’s modification never to return back.

We resist it, precisely because we want it to remain the same; but change is inevitable, and to resist is to often engage in acts of futility against a tide which resists resistance.  Few of us welcome, let alone savor, changes in our lives; and when they first appear on the horizon of potentiality, we try and resist, to stop it, to alter the course of history’s onward march.

Perhaps we merely refuse to join in with the change; or have an inner attitude of non-acceptance; or sit gloomily and pout throughout the remainder of days simmering with resentment that we were forced to accept that which we never wanted.  It is like the divorce that shattered one’s childhood and from which we never recovered; the stepmother or stepfather who entered our lives only added salt to the wound where change was resisted but no one listened to our protestations and pleas, asking, “Why can’t it be the same as always?”

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition impacts one’s ability and capacity to perform all of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, “change” and the “resistance” to change are inevitable dualities of life’s misgivings.

Perhaps you were once at the “top of your game” and considered the best at what you do; or, perhaps you thrived on anonymity and were happy to work in a quiet, unassuming way.  Regardless, the very thought of change is something you resisted, but a medical condition forced such a change whether you like it or not.

Change itself is always difficult, but there are ways to mitigate the vulnerabilities that accompany change: Consult with an attorney before engaging battle with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.  For, while change may be like the uninvited stepmother or stepfather into one’s life, the change that truly becomes a tumultuous event is the one where you step forward into the unknown without any guidance or assistance.

Consult with an attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law in preparing, formulating and filing for Federal and Postal Disability Retirement benefits.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire