FERS Medical Retirement from OPM: Did Anyone Ask Me?

Being powerless is the plight of most; feeling powerless, the reality with few exceptions.  Even the wealthiest of the world have limited control; for, a devastating illness can in an instant make one’s wealth irrelevant, if not a burden.  And of the world in which we abide in — did anyone ever ask me whether or not this is the pathway I wanted to construct?

Did anyone ask me whether the creation of the personal computer, of emails and attachments being sent electronically; of social media where kids no longer engage in the real world but merely through virtual means; of endless wars and school shootings; of geopolitical decisions, worldwide inflation and shortage of goods and services — Did anyone ever stop and ask me whether decisions made at world conferences was what I wanted?  No — and no one ever will.

But there are certain levels of decision-making — of questions which must be asked and can only be answered by the individuals — which can and must be taken hold by specific individuals.  Such as: Preparing, formulating and filing for FERS Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Only the Federal and Postal worker who has been impacted by a disabling medical condition which prevents the Federal or Postal employee from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job can answer the question: Do I need to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS?

So — while the rest of the world’s questions are often never asked of most individuals, there are some which are, and for help in answering those important questions, contact a FERS Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, where in the end, you can answer “yes” to the question, Did Anyone Ask Me?

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 Help: A Worthy Life

Should such a question, or answer, even be entertained?  Or, should one always revert to the normative ethos — albeit, safe and uncontroversial — that by definition, any and all lives constitute a worthy life, merely because life itself is precious and therefore undeniably and incontrovertibly worthwhile?

Yet, surely we engage in such debates, if not directly, then circuitously and sometimes by engaging in linguistic euphemisms which betray our most sacred belief systems.

Are proponents of the death penalty those who have answered the question, already?  For, have you not made a judgment of “unworthiness” if you believe that the death penalty is an acceptable penalty?  Or, of a lesser offense — say, a homeless person who begs for food; should they all be shuttered in some part of the world where we don’t have to deal with them?

How do we define “worth”?  Is it by economic success, or are there other factors which determine fulfillment of a definition rarely complete and barely understood?

Is “worth” tantamount to “indispensable”?  If that is the standard, then none of us would qualify; for, looking back into the history of mankind, is there anyone from yesterday whom we consider indispensable today?  They are all deep in the ground where moss, grass and ivy have overgrown the cemeteries where once the worth was thought to be indispensable, but now are merely forgotten remnants of unrepentant memories.  Here is a thought: At a minimum, a worthy life is when a person provides a mangy dog a life of comfort and happiness.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal Service 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, the question of a worthy life often begins to creep in, where the Federal agency or Postal facility is doing everything to question your worth with the Federal Agency or the Postal Service.

Don’t buy into that line of thinking.

You know your own worth; don’t begin to doubt it.  Instead, contact a disability lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and begin the process of preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS, through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and thus begin the process of ascertaining the unquestionable worthiness of a life which has many miles to go, if merely to have the opportunity to give a mangy dog a life of comfort and joy.

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 Disability Retirement: The Loyalty Test

Federal Agencies and the U.S. Postal Service have an expectation of “loyalty” — that their workers in general are loyal to the mission of the agency; that there is an implied trust held between workers and managers, between workers and the Agency; that the Agency itself and the Postal Facility enjoys a certain level of trust and security.

There is not a “loyalty test” as such — but nevertheless, the concept of “loyalty” is quite a simple one: We work with each other; we trust one another; we believe that the agency or the postal facility in general will look out for one another.  Part of that sense of “loyalty” must include the belief that, if you put in your years and effort, if you get hurt — whether on the job or away from it — the Federal Agency and the Postal Facility will do everything to (A) help you get back to work or (B) if you can’t, to help you obtain all of the employment benefits you are entitled to.

Sadly, more often than not, that is simply not the case.

If you are a Federal or Postal employee and can no longer perform one or more of the essential elements of your job as a Federal or Postal employee, contact a Federal Disability Lawyer who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS, and make sure that the “Loyalty Test” which does not exist but should when the need to obtain OPM Disability Retirement benefits comes to the fore, will be enforced — of getting your rightful Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Lawyer

 

Disability Retirement under FERS: Adopting an Adaptive Plan

Most of us barely have one; and when we do, we quickly forget about it and move on, satisfied that —by the mere declaration of having one — we need not implement it or follow it rigorously beyond the mere possession of it.

The old Soviet Union (do we remember what the abbreviation, “U.S.S.R.” stood for?) had 5 and 10 year plans, and when the stated goals were not met, they simply cooked the books and declared that they were well ahead of the declared plans, and so the satellite nations under the rubric of the “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” nodded its approval and genuflected to the Soviet Central Planning Committee (for, you couldn’t have a plan unless there were multiple committees to make those plans) and were grateful for the plans even though their populace were starving, despite the declared success of all of that planning.

Battlefield officers rely upon them; although, in recent years, because war is no longer fought by armies planning an attack upon other armies, the need for adopting an adaptive plan has become a survival necessity.  Life itself rarely follows a plan; most of the time, one’s day is consumed by just trying to survive.

When a medical condition hits us, of course, then all of the planning in the world — from a retrospective and myopic viewpoint — didn’t amount to much.  What is the plan, then, for a Federal or Postal employee who can no longer perform his or her job because of the medical conditions that prevent one from doing so?

The Federal Disability Retirement “plan” is to allow for a Federal or Postal employee to file for OPM Medical Retirement benefits under FERS, so that the Federal employee can medically retire, focus upon one’s health and still, hopefully, enter the workforce in the near or mid-future and continue to contribute, all the while receiving a disability retirement annuity.  Now, that sounds like adopting an adaptive plan where interruption of a life plan allows for some grace beyond lack of planning.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Medical Retirement for Federal Workers: The recipe

There is a fascination with master chefs; the process itself — from a gathering of various food items and the preparation for the grand feast; through the selection and addition of various additives and extras; to the final product that results from the “touch of the master” — which is why entire series of shows are devoted to mass audiences for viewing with a trance-like interest, whether in the monosyllabic tone of various British series that articulate with accented sophistication, to the fiery tempers of showmanship in this country; for many, it is the show of choice, and it all begins with a recipe — or not.

For most of us, there has to be a foundation to begin with — some semblance of an order of ingredients to follow, instructions to abide by and a step-by-step direction in which to proceed.  Otherwise, we are lost as to what will turn out, and whether the end product is even edible.

Cooking at any level of sophistication can be quite revealing as to the character and personality of an individual: Does one stick religiously to the letter of the recipe?  How creative is a person on the first go-around?  Is precise measurement the steps to follow, or is an “approximation” the greater methodology — a dash here, a sprinkle there, an overflowing cup or less than a tablespoon, depending upon the desire of one’s palate?  And when everything is mixed — does it have to be sequential?  Why must the onions be mixed in before the carrots?  How does the mixture itself know whether you put in the garlic before the parsley?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are considering preparing, formulating and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application, to be submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the thing to consider is not whether or not there is a “recipe book” to prepare an effective FERS Disability Retirement application, but whether there is a “master chef” out there who can pull all of the “ingredients” together to make the “best dish” possible.

To that extent, there is a similarity between cooking and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application: A good attorney who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement is likened to the master chef, and while good ingredients always matter, by whom it is prepared can make all the difference.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Disability Retirement for Federal Employees: Recognizing Problems

Why are some better at preemptively addressing recognizable foreshadowing?  Is it a genetic predisposition related to the capacity of surviving?  Like the instinctive responses of animals, is it an inherent trait that favors those who are more “fit” with such a characteristic, and thus to the disadvantage of those who do not possess it, where recognition and preemptive engagement allows for survival and thus the genetic pool favoring by dominance of avoiding the mortality trap?  Have we replaced such instinctive abilities by relegating most problems to linguistic identification and capacity to solve?

For, in the human world where language prevails and electronic communication is now the preeminent engagement of consciousness, the “problems” to recognize are no longer the danger of an approaching predator nor the oncoming storm out in the middle of the ocean (although, a burning house or a hurricane imminent if you live on the coast are still real dangers), but for the most part, language games that need modification, curtailment or adjustment in order to correct the inconvenience of social constructs that have gone amok or astray.

Yes, the furnace may break down, the water heater may have sprung a leak, or the roof shingles may need replacing; but even those, the resolution is rarely one that is initiated by us; rather, it is to utilize the mode of communication and either by phone, email or text messaging, we make an appointment for someone else to fix the problem.  Recognition of the concern was still contained within the world of language, and the physical work attended to is relegated and delegated to some strange entity in another universe.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition prevents the Federal employee or U.S. Postal Worker to take the next step by preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether the Federal employee or U.S. Postal worker is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset – the process begins with a “real” problem:  the medical condition itself, which will not go away no matter the treatment modalities or the constant attempt to work one’s way through the chronic and progressively deteriorating situation.

Then, from the reality of the problem itself, the jump to recognizing the further concern must inevitably manifest itself – that of the incompatibility and incommensurate nature of the medical condition and being able to do all of the essential elements of one’s positional duties.

Thus, recognizing the problem is the first step in resolving the issues; however, resolution may sometimes need some expertise and advice beyond what the Federal or Postal employee can foresee in the foreshadowing of approaching dark clouds.  For, not all problems are equal, and certainly not all solutions, and while recognizing problems may resolve some of the concerns, the greater issue is whether the Federal or Postal employee will have all of the information available “out there” in the netherworld of an administrative and bureaucratic morass as that of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, such that the problems one cannot recognize may be the one that defeats the solution never known.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Medical Retirement from Civil Service: The Clock

It is an interesting device.  We can try and project back to a time of its non-existence, or at least when not every household owned one.  What could it have been like?  Where the hour was guessed at by the position of the sun – or was that not even part of the thought process?  Did the sun, dawn, dusk and twilight merely present a foreboding for a different paradigm?

Certainly, minutes and seconds likely had conceptual meaninglessness, and everyone worked, played and lived for the “moment”, without great regard or concern for the next day, the following season, or a decade hence.  Ship’s captains had a greater sense of future foreboding, though not necessarily of time, but of oncoming storms or changes in the currents; farmers lived season to season, and fretted as they still do about droughts or floods that might destroy crops; but as we entered into modernity, it was the grind of the clock that set the day for the city dweller, where payment for labor earned was remitted not by the rising and setting of the sun, but by increments of hours, minutes and labor beyond the darkness of a day ended.

At what point did time entrap us into a thought-process of expectancy that destroys the joy of a living moment?

If Friday provides a needed anticipation for a weekend of rest and repose, we immediately destroy and capacity to enjoy it by looking at the clock and realizing how many hours and minutes have passed by, and further denigrate our ability to appreciate by calculating the remainder of time.  We can become obsessed with the clock – its ticking diminution by projecting the decrease; the foreboding of what is yet to come, though it is merely within our minds; and the constant checking of incremental living of a life as against the clock that rules.

Medical conditions tend to remind us of the clock; or, perhaps it is the opposite, where the clock reminds us of our mortality when we suffer from a medical condition.  For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that preparing a Federal Disability Retirement application may become a necessity, the clock can serve as both a reminder as well as an obsession of foreboding thought processes.

Yes, the clock is likely ticking in a proverbial sense in terms of the Agency or the U.S. Postal Service having the patience (does such an animal exist for either?) in trying to “work with” the medical condition (a euphemism often interpreted as, “You better become fully productive soon, or else”), but in a more real sense, the Federal or Postal employee must make a decision at some point as to the prioritizing of one’s health as opposed to the positional elements of the job which is increasingly becoming more and more difficult to fulfill.

By law, the Federal or Postal employee who is released, separated or terminated (yes, there is a distinction between the three, but for the Federal employee of Postal worker, not enough of significance to define them here), the Federal or Postal employee can file for Federal Disability Retirement within one (1) year of such separation from service.  Certainly, in that instance, the clock begins to tick, and not just in a proverbial sense but in real legal terms.  One need not, however, wait for such an event to realize the clock’s significance; watching the clock as the medical condition continues to deteriorate, is reminder enough that time rules us each day whether or not we succumb to it, or not.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Disability Retirement: The hospital bed

It is a lonely and demoralizing state of affairs; they poke, prod and insist upon ruling out every sector of one’s body as the culprit of diagnosed maladies.  The hospital bed is a barbaric contraption next to a mediaeval torture chamber, and one can only imagine what such inventions were like in those olden days, when antiseptic means meant the possibility of washing one’s hands every now and again, and where pain and death were part of everyday living.

It reminds us, above all, of our own vulnerability and mortality; and what a blessing health and life are.

Oh, it is true – we take such issues for granted, and barely get beyond the tripe and inane statements like, “Oh, health is such a blessing,” or, “We are so thankful for our health.”  It is when one is in the hospital, alone in a bed, in the darkness of those twilight hours, that the reality of one’s own Being is revealed:  the projects we cling to; the significance we place upon the work we perform; and the extra credit we think we deserve when we work late into the wee hours.

We have heard all of those wise remarks, either in novels, essays or even movies:  On your epitaph, you do not get a special mention for ignoring your health.  Work is great, but that needs to be placed in its proper perspective.  The projects we engage and embrace – is it, as Heidegger reminds us, merely a means to avoid the inevitable outcome of our fate?  Do the gods laugh from above, pointing to our mortality and the fruitless attempts we cling to in order to avoid facing our future?

It is, in the end, the hospital bed that reminds us starkly of who we are, where we are heading, and what this all will mean.

Retirement is not meant to be a time to spend in a hospital bed; Disability Retirement is not meant to be filed at a point when a Federal or Postal employee is so debilitated that once it is approved by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, that one merely “retires” to a hospital bed.  It is, instead, a system whereby a person is recognized to no longer be able to perform some of the essential elements of one’s job, but that there is an implicit understanding that there can be a time in the future where productivity can be applied to a different vocation or another career.

Yes, there are jokes that abound – of Federal Disability Retirement annuitants being Walmart Greeters or engaged in other similarly menial and lesser jobs, but those are not the only stories to tell.  There are many Federal annuitants who have found private sector jobs where the pay scale comes perilously close to the 80% limit – and, while that can be a problem, isn’t that a “good” problem to have?

Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits does not require the “higher” standard of being debilitated or “totally disabled”; rather, it is a standard which recognizes that there is an inconsistency between the position one occupies, and the medical conditions from which one suffers.  If consideration in filing is arrived at in a hospital bed, it is still not too late; but a reminder it is, and the next steps are to begin the long and complicated process of preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement: The sweater draped over a chair

You look in the room and see the sweater draped over a chair.  You turn your gaze elsewhere, engage the ongoing conversations and the din of others distracted.  Later, you turn back your gaze again, and the sweater is gone.  You look about to try and see whether someone picked it back up, is wearing it, or perhaps put it somewhere else.

You imply and infer – yes, one must follow the general grammatical rule that the speaker implies while the listener infers; but you are both the speaker and the listener, the one who observes and the same one who steps outside of the conscious universe to observe the observed.  You imply that someone put the sweater over the chair, and that same person (or someone else) took it at a later time – all during a period when your eyes were diverted elsewhere.

You assume that the world continues to operate even outside of the purview of your deliberate and conscious observation, as we all do.  You infer the same; of a world otherwise not within the limited perspective of observation, either by visual or audio awareness.  Yet, where is the evidence of such inference or implication; and that is, of course, what Bishop Berkeley’s restrictive definition of “existence” and Being was meant to encapsulate in perfect form:  Not that there are no mountains on the far side of the moon when we cannot observe them, but that we limit the definition of Being such that peripheral philosophical conundrums created by language’s difficulty with implied Being and inferred Existence can be avoided.

Perhaps we dreamt the draping of the sweater over the chair, or had a fit of phantasm and imaginative discourse that went astray.  In any event, you never saw the person either drape the sweater over the chair, nor dispossess the chair of its warmth and concealment.  Instead, you infer and imply – ignoring the grammatical rules previously mentioned.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are attempting to prepare an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to be submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the relevance here concerns writing up an effective narrative of one’s medical condition, its impact upon one’s ability and capacity to perform the essential elements of one’s position, and the legal argumentation to make in order to persuade OPM:  to what extent should facts and other statements be directly delineated, as opposed to leaving certain matters presumed or otherwise to be inferred or implied?

OPM is a bureaucracy, and with all such administrative entities, is made up of varying levels of competence and acuity of observation.  For the most part, in writing up the narrative on SF 3112A, Applicant’s Statement of Disability, the general rule should be to make that which is implicit, as explicit as possible, and never to leave the room where a sweater is draped such that disappearance of the garment may leave a mystery otherwise unable to be solved except by implication and inference.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire