Immanuel Kant was an 18th century German philosopher who recognized the imposition of human categories, structures and conceptual perspectives upon the stark reality of the world around us. Within such levels of an uniquely human perspective, we shape the barren reality and impose our perceptual constructs.
It is not something we have any choice in; by being uniquely human, we see the world in a human way, thereby bringing to it a comprehension and order which our species can embrace, just as other animals may encounter the world from its own unique perspective. Thus, the world according to Kant became one of bifurcation — between the “noumenal” world which was unfiltered and unknowable, and the phenomenal world of our own “making”.
For Federal and Postal employees who are contemplating filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, one must always keep in mind the two parallel universes — the one which we hope for and often “make”, and the one in which we must survive.
When a medical condition impacts a person’s life to such an extent that he or she must contemplate filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, the phenomenal world of our making may include: Hope that the Federal agency will treat us fairly; hope that the medical condition may improve or go away; hope that one’s work will not suffer as a consequence. But in the stark reality of the noumenal world, one must recognize the unknowable: Agencies rarely show a sense of sustained loyalty; medical conditions being what they are, will often remain on a steady course of debilitating progressivity; and one’s medical condition almost always impacts the ability to perform the essential elements of one’s job.
Walking about with a uniquely human perspective is something which we cannot help; gliding through life with self-deceptions is something which, while also uniquely human, one cannot afford to engage in for too long.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Reflections of an OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer | Tagged: a statement of reality, appearance versus reality in federal disability retirement, approaching truth and reality as the opm and other us agencies perceive them, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, civil service disability, competing perspectives and viewpoints during the federal disability retirement process, confronting reality about your physical limitations in the federal workplace, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, economic survival when it's impossible to work with a disability, federal disability law blog, federal employee perspectives workers with disabilities, federal employment and an encounter with reality after an illness or disability, federal employment and financial survival after an injury, FERS disability lawyer, getting together different perspectives and making a compelling case, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, legal services for federal and postal workers all across america, opm disability retirement acceptable construct planning, perception vs. reality about the federal disability retirement application, Postal disability retirement, pulling together several perspectives for the fers disability application, reality check about your agency's role in securing your federal disability retirement benefits, representing federal employees in and outside the country, the csrs/fers disability process and the reality of human nature, the harsh reality of a complex but extremely necessary disability retirement process, the perspective of the federal disability retirement applicant, the reality of the medical condition and federal disability law, the reality versus the expectation of the opm disability process, the us postal worker's perspective on his opm disability waiting processing time, understanding different perspectives from the different federal disability retirement people and entities, understanding the reality of the agency's motivation to get rid of a disabled employee and its real power to grant disability, viewing fers disability retirement as a process not just an application, viewing my federal employee disability application from an attorney's perspective | Leave a comment »
OPM Disability Retirement: Differing Perspectives
The old adage, “Walk in your fellow man’s shoes for a mile” is a saying which is meant essentially to teach a child (and many adults) to have a different perspective than one’s own, self-centered universe. In practicing law, it is a good idea to attempt to obtain a perspective from the multitude of differing “shoes” — and this is especially important in putting together a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS.
The gathering of such differing and different perspectives — that of the treating doctor; that of the applicant; that of the Agency (the Supervisor and the Agency in its determination that accommodation or reassignment is not available or appropriate for a given employee, given the particular medical conditions and the type of positional duties of the specific job which the Applicant must perform, as well as taking into account what constitutes “efficiency” in the Federal Service, etc.); and further, that of the Office of Personnel Management.
It is the job of the Attorney representing a Federal or Postal employee in preparing a Federal Disability Retirement packet under FERS or CSRS, to pull together the various perspectives; write up and prepare, and gather the information from the multiple and differing perspectives; to neutralize those perspectives which may impact negatively upon the Federal disability retirement application; then to present the fullness of the different perspectives such that it meets the legal criteria and “perspective” of the Representative from the Office of Personnel Management: that “ultimate” perspective which determines a “yes” or “no” in determining the viability of a Federal Disability Retirement Application.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability Application - SF 3112 Disability Retirement Application Package, The Job of a Federal Disability Attorney | Tagged: a compelling medical case for federal employee disability retirement, a rational perspective from your disability claim evaluation, accommodation of federal employees, applicant's statement of disability, attorney that helps injured and ill federal workers, creating a strong case to qualify for fers disability benefits, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, each opm disability stage requires a different approach, early out for disabled postal workers with application, federal disability law and legal argumentation, federal disability lawyer to handle opm disability denial, federal employee disability retirement, federal employee medical retirement, FERS disability retirement, gathering medical documentation for an incapacitated federal employee, getting together different perspectives and making a compelling case, going out on medical disability opm, help for injured or ill federal employees seeking medical retirement, help in collecting medical evidence and putting package together, how to neutralize negative information in your postal disability application, if reassignment is not possible for the light duty federal worker, job reassignment, letter carrier occupational illness, Maintaining an Objective Perspective in a Disability Case, making a compelling federal opm disability case, medical as well as legal factors may determine eligibility in opm retirement, medical condition(s), medical disability lawyers opm, medical incapacitation at the federal agency, neutralizing negative comments and/or information for the disability applicant, occupational illnesses in federal jobs, old adage, OPM disability retirement, opm disability retirement new jersey employees, Post Office disability retirement, postal buyout always available for injured postal workers, Postal Service disability, proof of disability for federal workers, pulling together several perspectives for the fers disability application, putting a federal disability case together, rational perspective into the fed workers' medical condition, top federal disability retirement attorney, USPS disability retirement, when accommodation is not available to the injured federal worker, writing up a legal summary and putting together an opm disability application, your treating doctors | Leave a comment »