It is something that we leave behind. Yet, unlike a wallet, a watch, a piece of jewelry or a troublesome child better left forgotten, we don’t have an opportunity to go back and get it. We say of that laundry list, “Oh, I need to go back and get it” (except maybe of the last in the list, whom we hope will be adopted into a kindly family and simultaneously also leave the parents behind); but not of the legacy.
No one ever says of that, “Oh, I left my legacy behind, and I need to go back and get it.” Instead, it is intimately bound up with mortality, our sense of the future minus our own presence, and a dominant desire and urge to “leave a legacy” behind, as if to do otherwise will diminish the memory of one who has now departed, will soon be forgotten and will populate the mass of unknown graves without tombstones littering the earth beneath ivy and weeds that overwhelm.
It is often money itself, which is soon spent and forgotten; or a special “something” that one remembers another by, which is placed in a drawer and also quickly, easily and without conscience soon forgotten; or, perhaps a more lasting imprint of some residual effect – a poem, an antique car (otherwise referred to as a “junk heap”), or the family farm.
Whatever the legacy left leaving lasting latitudes of lost loneliness lacking love’s longing for lengthy locutions (sorry for the alliteration, but it cannot be helped), it is something that is left behind, cannot ever be retrieved, and may or may not have a lasting impact upon the person or groups of people for whom it is intended.
Then, one can stretch the meaning to include a more modern interpretation of the concept of a legacy – of one’s own. That is a paradigm of a “legacy” in the more common usage – of a memory of one’s life, of what kind of a legacy will one leave that will be remembers by others – that you worked yourself to death and didn’t spend the time with your kids (refer to the above, first sentence herein, where that may be a blessing), your wife or friends? What is the point of an empty legacy of that sort?
For the Federal employee and U.S. Postal worker who begins to think of one’s life, health, future and legacy, especially because a medical condition has begun to impact one’s ability and capacity to continue in the Federal or Postal career of one’s choice, the consideration of preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to be filed with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, is often and intimately tied and bound to the fragile nature of a medical condition and its impact upon one’s life.
Struggling daily with a medical condition while trying to contend with a contentious Federal Agency or Postal Facility is not only “not fun” – it is, moreover, a futile exercise that diminishes the legacy of one’s life as a greater whole.
The “legacy” one leaves behind, indeed, is not like a wallet, a watch, or a piece of jewelry; but it is like a child left behind, where regrets for the future may yet be corrected, and for the Federal or Postal employee who needs to focus upon one’s health and future orientation that can no longer include the current job one occupies, preparation of an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to be submitted to OPM, may be the next best thing to a legacy yet to be considered.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Reflections of an OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer | Tagged: a second though about the actions from the usps against its own postal employees, agency separating an employee pending opm disability retirement, apply for fers disability retirement online, applying for post office medical pension annuities, can a federal employee retire for disability even if terminated? yes but only one year after termination, describing ones medical conditions in the usps ca1, disability insurance fers for post office employees, disability options for postal workers, disability retirement chronic back pain fers employee, disability retirement from the post office, dol 2nd opinion doctor override my treating dr unable carry mail usps, emotional distress post office lawyer, federal employee attorney carpel tunnel and other repetitive strain injuries, federal job related stress leave, federal law enforcement disability retirement lawyer, federal workman's compensation stress claim long term condition, federal workmans comp problems, fers disability insurance attorney, fers medical pension annuities in federal employee with paranoia, filing a ca 2 for stress against the usps, filing for early medical retirement opm.gov, filing for long term federal disability leave with assistance of attorney, getting medical retirement for carpel tunnel, government employee hostile work environment lawyer, handicap federal government employee attorney, help for federal employees with ptsd, help for mail handlers filling out medical retirement papers, help to fill out federal disability forms, how make complaint for owcp federal, how to file a medical claim with the usps with leading postal service attorney, how to resign from the federal government following a disabling illness and if I should apply first for med retirement, how to win a service disability retirement for pysch, job stress separation postal employee attorney, lawyers helping with light duty issues post office, legal assistance for letter carriers with disabling injuries, light duty dr note government employees, long term benefits for usps and federal employees, mail handlers with permanent back injuries trying to get out early, medical retirement from the va health system, opm attention deficit disorder medical retirement lawyer, opm disabilities attorney for postal employees, opm disability insurance lawyer, opm hostile work environment medical retirement lawyer, opm law attorney guidelines usps employees with disabilities, owcp approved claim with opm as next step, owcp injury postal attorney, owcp permanent partial disability lawyer, physician's statement of disability fers, post office and disabilities claims, post office disability retirement approval rating is much more higher with the assistance of specialized attorney, post office disability retirement benefits lawyer, postal employee removal proposal and finding t a top usps attorney, postal light duty and disability retirement forms, ptsd va veteran postal janitor attorney, receiving a dol owcp scheduled award while receiving opm disability annuities, recognized medical disabilities federal employees, reconsideration of disability retirement timeline, resign from federal job attorney, resign from federal job inability to do essential functions of government job, resignation usps and disability retired former coworker, retirement annuity plans for disabled fers and csrs government employees, sample write up for respiratory illness disability retirement federal government opm.gov, seek attorney advice first time free consultation, south florida fers disability lawyers, stress claims against the u.p. postal service, termination of feca benefits and fers disability lawyer, usps harassment on people filing for medical retirement, usps p & d facility: working in an indifferent working environment, usps private attorney experienced in helping postal employees, va employee medical retirement benefits lawyer, what are some of the disabilities that can get approved from opm? see “medical conditions” in fers-disability-retirement.com, what disabilities qualify for usps medical retirement, workmans vocational rehabilitation and fers medical retirement lawyer, wrongful termination settlements from the us postal services, yes it’s legal for injured postal workers on disability retirement to own business, your usps retirement benefits | Leave a comment »
Federal Disability Retirement Law: Fool’s Gold
Pyrite is often the element mistaken for gold, with its bright yellow appearance and shiny, reflective compound. Why a given mineral is determined of greater value than another of similar appearance is a complicated affair, encapsulating economic principles of supply and demand, the fungibility and replacement feature of one over the other, and the plain fact that the elemental differentiation itself constitutes “real” versus “fake”.
It is, in history books, novels and plays, a metaphor for greed, corruption, ill-fated endeavors, and motives which propel obsessions of determined failure and futility. For that which we seek with a blind eye, we end up becoming blinded to. During the course of a career, one can often lose sight of why we were working towards a goal, the values which we once cherished, and the reasons for our very essence and being.
For the Federal employee and the U.S. Postal worker who suddenly finds himself or herself with a medical condition, such that the medical condition prevents one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s positional duties, the metaphor of the fool’s gold is an instructive one. For, to pursue one’s career at any cost, is ultimately a fool’s errand; and when the price to pay is one’s own health, such a continuing act of futility can result in greater calamity than necessitated by one’s progressively deteriorating circumstances.
Priorities in life always have to be readjusted, in order to accommodate the unexpected vicissitudes of life’s challenges.
For Federal employees and U.S. Postal Workers, the work is important for most, and is a “high priority” in order to accomplish the mission of the agency or the Postal Service; but when one’s health contraindicates the priority of one’s Federal or Postal career, a change of venue should be considered, and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, is an important first step in making sure that the proverbial pot of gold one once sought, has not been replaced by the mirage of fool’s gold, lest the leprechaun who mended your shoes is caught during the process, in which case the three wishes granted may override the need to reshuffle one’s priorities.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Fables, Stories and Analogies about CSRS and FERS Medical Retirement Benefits | Tagged: advantages in filing for usps disability retirement benefits is the opportunity to work elsewhere, agency managers that misuse their authority are causing depression among federal government employees, appealing commentary on usps drac committee recommendations, asleep at work federal government, average time for opm to decide medical retirement is about 6 to 8 months in most cases, being removed from a federal job for poor health, border patrol disabilities on and off duty, caught being asleep federal government may underline medical conditions, cbp disability retirement attorney, civil service ptsd lawyer, considerations before resigning federal job for medical problems, defense intelligence agency medical retirement attorney, department of labor functional capacity evaluation private attorney for federal employee, department of labor medical retirement lawyer, dhs disability retirement attorney, disability retirement letter mental health issues, faa air traffic controller medical retirement lawyer, fed employee disciplined for taking lwop due to hostile work environment, federal disability retirement application guidelines, federal disability retirement for nervous breakdown, federal employee medical termination tsp, federal employee rights when requesting resignation for medical reasons, federal employee sleep apnea, federal job related stress leave, federal manager abuse of authority causing stress and anxiety, federal opm lawyer for medical retirement applications, fers disability heart failure sample assistance from top attorney in the field, fers disability lawyer and carpal tunnel syndrome, fers office of personnel management for disability retirement, filing a complaint with owcp department or applying for opm medical retirement benefits, getting fers medical retirement with sleep apnea, help with sf 3112 disability retirement forms, how do I resign from a federal job for health conditions, how to get disability retirement fers, how to get disability retirement from opm, how to handle your transition toward medical retirement with the employing agency or usps, how to sign up for medical retirement from post office, inability to perform duties constitute inefficiency for removal from federal government, insufficient usps drac committee accommodation, job offers owcp and accommodation issues, lawyers helping with light duty issues post office, light duty request form from apwu or law firm, limited duty law government employment lawyer, long term stress leave federal, long term usps workers comp benefits, medical documentation is required for fers disability, medical inability to perform removal in the us postal service, medical inability to perform the duties in federal government job, medical retirement due to injury at job with cbp, mental health and claim hostile work environment with federal government for early out pension benefits, opm agency certification of inability to place employee, opm disability documentation due to depression, opm federal disability retirement, opm medical retirement attorney for carpal tunnel syndrome, opm process time disabilities termination with annuity payments, osteoarthritis opm medical retirement benefits, owcp accepted conditions in contrast to opm medical condition that affect job performing, owcp and unable to return to work, owcp sending employees for a fitness for duty evaluation, owcp unfair accommodation, Post Office disability retirement, post office disability retirement benefits lawyer, post office disability retirement lawyer, postal disability lawyer, postal disability retirement process, postal employee unable to return to work stress, postal services shared services division of disabilities retirement, proven success on federal disability retirement claims, pstd anxiety usps lawyer, psychiatrist signing 'return to work' form for the usps, removal proposal for excessive absences due to medical conditions, resign post office for medical reasons and walk out empty handed?, resigning your position from the federal government for illness, return to work physical exam federal employment, should I resign from the postal service for a medical condition?, sick leave denied and being awol in the postal service due to a medical condition, the attorney’s role in guiding a usps medical retirement application, us postal service personnel management, usda retirement information for employees with disabilities, usps performance improvement plan for medically related inefficient job performance, usps return to work after being out on stress, va employee disability retirement lawyer, what to expect during the fers or csrs disability retirement claim, workplace bullying in the federal government causing disabilities on employees | Leave a comment »