Federal Disability Retirement from OPM: The Fall of Life

Seasons are often metaphorical and analogical applications for communicating a personification of our connection to the natural world.  The Autumn of our lives — or the Fall of Life — is that period when the apex of our lifespan has passed and we are now in the downward trend when viewed from a spectrum of our life’s entirety.

There is the Spring — of birth, early childhood, and the indiscretion of youth; and of Summer, the height of our creative powers, the vigor of battling, tackling and “living” to the fullest; and then of Fall, when experience and wisdom begins to set in and where life is of a more settled nature — of the leaves floating down upon the earth, quietly and without fanfare, where the acquisition of wisdom is of greater worth than of exuberance of accomplishments and conquests.

There is, of course, that last phase — of the Winter of Discontent, the snowfalls and frozen tundra representing the barrenness of that last stage, whether of an eternity beyond or a nothingness and void. Whatever the theological belief-system, what we do know is that it is a mystery never to be known.

But as for the Fall of Life — either of the season, the time, the period of meditative quietude, or of the all-encompassing quarter extracted from the whole; or, in the other sense of the concept, a period of downturn, when the descent of our physical and mental capacities begin to manifest.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are experiencing the Fall of Life — of a time when health begins to deteriorate and you are no longer able to perform all of the essential functions of your Federal or Postal job — you may want to consider preparing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS.

If you can no longer meet the performance expectations of your Federal Agency or the U.S. Postal Service, contact an FERS Disability Attorney who specializes in OPM Disability Retirement Law and begin the initiation of a Federal or Postal Disability Retirement application in the Fall of your life, before the deep darkness of winter sets in.

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: Parts of the Day

Human beings like to bifurcate, separate, identify, categorize, and otherwise artificially divide time into manageable segments in order to re-order the world to their liking.

This is the simplified explanation of Kant’s distinction between the “phenomenal world” (the one we perceive through our cognitive faculties) and the “noumenal world” — that “objective” universe which we are never able to access because the categories of our human constitution impose upon the raw universe the mental ordering so that we perceive that which is uniquely human.

Thus, “time”, as Augustine viewed it, is merely the human imposition of expectations as to an anticipated future segment, and nothing more than a fiction based upon human categorization of past, prevent and future.

And of the “parts of the day”?  Perhaps it might go something like the following: Morning coffee period — enjoyable; the slog of late morning; lunch, a quiet respite; the sleepiness after a meal, but somehow to get over the hump of early afternoon; then, watching the clock as the minutes slowly make their way towards the end of a workday; the stress-filled commute back home; home, for last minute chores, children and a good night’s sleep.

With variations, each individual experiences a similar “phenomenal” day, cut up into manageable segments — until an interceding (and interrupting) force appears.  Chronic medical conditions often constitute and comprise that “interruption”.

Fortunately, for Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, where the medical condition itself alters the Federal or Postal employee’s parts of the day — by necessity, to get through the debilitating symptoms of your disabling health condition — it may not be so simple as the hypothetical division as described herein.

What needs to happen, then, is to prepare an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), so that the parts of the day can look somewhat like the following: Focus on getting better; rest; focus on getting better; rest.

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 Government Disability Retirement: Predictive Choices

When a medical condition first begins to appear, Federal employees and Postal workers rarely predict or anticipate that Federal Disability Retirement will be the choice that must be chosen in the near-term — or even in the long term.  A medical condition arises; we go to the doctor to take care of it; we continue on with life.  We rarely “plan” in anticipation of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, on the other hand, looks at an application for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, reviews all of the submitted progress notes of the treating doctor, looks at a person’s Performance Reviews and denies a Federal Disability Retirement application because you — the Federal or Postal employee — were able to work through your chronic medical condition, still received stellar performance reviews, and acted “as if” there was little to nothing wrong with you.

In other words, you continued to power your way through life despite your medical conditions.  It is unfair, isn’t it?  For, you are essentially being penalized for choosing to live life as opposed to making the predictive choice of filing for FERS Disability Retirement benefits.

Contact a Federal Disability Retirement Lawyer who specializes in OPM Disability Retirement Law and begin making the predictive choices which will reinforce your case for a successful Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Postal & Federal Worker Disability Retirement: Moving to the Next

Next what? This is a nation which is known for constantly moving to the next — whatever.  Other countries build upon a series of yesterdays, slowly, methodically, accumulating knowledge from past wisdom, building a culture, cultivating traditions, finding sacred solace in silent offerings to the past.

Our nation is one of abandonment, replacement — of moving to the next news cycle, the newest fad, the most recent money-making scheme and the next popular star, designer, show, Broadway hit, sports celebrity or what have you.  It is always going to the next, moving forward, never looking back at the human detritus left by the roadside of a speedway without limits.

Never mind that half of the population is depressed, medicated, left to fend for themselves and unable to cope with the fast-paced rate of a society without empathy.  Always, moving to the next.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, “moving to the next” is not an option insofar as the “next” constitutes the next mission-oriented duties of a Federal Agency or the U.S. Postal Service.  Instead, if the “next” is the need to file for FERS Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, contact a Federal Disability Retirement Lawyer and move to the next phase of your life as a Federal Disability Retiree.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

FERS Disability Retirement: Peace in a Pause

That is what war is, and life in general; of constant and incessant stresses and conflicts, only to have a brief pause — and deem such a momentary respite as “peace”.  History, taken from a “macro” view, is an endless string of wars with peace as an interlude to break them into fragments.

And so it is in the private lives of most of us: A persistent, unending series of conflicts, only to have some peace in a pause.  The greater volume of our lives is taken up by a continuum of struggle — of work, with a respite on weekends; of marriage, with an interlude of beauty; of life, with periodic segments of happiness; and where only death is the ultimate peace in a pause of life’s misgivings.

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 peace in a pause comes from some moments where one is either pain-free or where the stresses of the Federal or Postal job pauses on weekends.

Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS is meant to allow for some peace in a pause.  Perhaps the medical condition will never go away. Perhaps the pain will always remain.  Nevertheless, Federal Disability Retirement is meant to allow for some time of rehabilitative peace.

Consult with an OPM Disability Attorney who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement Law, and look to find some peace in a pause.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Disability Retirement: The Unshared Responsibility

It is an oxymoron of sorts: For, by the very definition of each of the two words, the opposite should necessarily be implied.  Responsibilities, by their very nature, especially in the context of a village, a society, or a nation, are shared by all; and thus to declare the existence of an “unshared responsibility” — when responsibilities by their very nature require a shared nature — is a form of self-contradiction.  Failure to share the responsibility that is ours to engage is common where society no longer knows its own neighbors.

That is the essence of a disappearing village — where we know longer know each other, remain detached and merely retain the outer facade of being a society with common interests.  Do you know your next door neighbor?  Do you even care to?  Yet, we have thousands of “friends” on Facebook, but barely know, or care, about the person living just across the street.

The Office is no different.  One day a coworker files for Federal Disability Retirement benefits and we are “surprised”.  We didn’t know that the person even had a medical condition.  The Supervisor didn’t know.  The Human Resource Office didn’t care to know.  No one at the agency cared to know.  That is often the reality, unfortunately, and the greater — sadder — reality is that those who should have known didn’t care to take the time to know.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who need to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and where confidentiality of the process is critical because of the unshared responsibility of the Federal Agency or the U.S. Postal Service, consult with a Federal Disability Attorney who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement Law, lest the unshared responsibility of confidential matters may potential leak to the uninterested ear that awaits hungrily for the gossip of unspoken mouths.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Medical Retirement: To Begin With…

Every endeavor begins with that.  Go to a class, a seminar, a “How to” video, and while the words may vary in form, the basic content of each must by necessity introduce the newcomer with, “To begin with, you must take the …”.

We are all beginners at some point in our lives; then, when a project, activity or some form of vocation begins to become “second nature”, we forget that we once struggled with the assignment, felt lost in the complexities of the endeavor and often sensed that competence in the field would never come about.  There is often that “aha!” moment which we have long forgotten, where the transcendence from ignorance to knowledge occurs in a subtle, almost imperceptible manner, and when that happens, we take on the amnesiac’s role of those first words, “To begin with…”

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, it is important to understand that the laws governing Federal Disability Retirement begins with some initial but crucial steps in preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to be filed through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under FERS.

Don’t be intimidated by the complexities inherent in the bureaucratic morass involved; rather, consult with an OPM Disability Attorney who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement Law, and start with the admonition that all such complexities must begin with: “To Begin with…”

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Federal OPM Disability Attorney

 

FERS Medical Disability Retirement: Vital Signs

We tend to take them for granted; yet, when an emergency arises, they are the first indicators we search for in determining whether and to what extent the concerns are justified or not.

Vital signs — whether of pulse, heartbeat, breathing or consciousness — are like left and right turn indicators that forewarn of an impending action, and when they weaken or disappear altogether, it becomes an event with traumatic consequences.  For the most part, vital signs are overlooked and are forgotten about.  We do not go through a normal day worrying about our pulse, or our heartbeat, leaving aside our consciousness; for, in the act of taking such things for granted, we assume that our capacity to live, work, eat and play in themselves are signs of conscious intent, and therefore can be ignored.

Vital signs are vital only in the instance of an emergency, when the question itself emerges as to whether that which we presume to be the case no longer is, or is doubtful as to its existence.  But life is more than the aggregate measure of vital signs; its quality must be measured by the compendium of circumstances, what we do, how we see ourselves and what hopes for the future are collected and maintained.  Vital signs are merely those “basics” that are taken for granted; but beyond, there is the question of one’s quality of life.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition impacts upon one’s quality of life precisely because work is a constant struggle, one’s health is a persistent problem and where one’s personal life is overwhelmed with fatigue, pain and misery, consideration must be given to file for Federal Disability Retirement.

In the end, life is more than checking to see if those vital signs exist; in fact, it is vital to life to have a certain quality of life, and that is what Federal Employee Disability Retirement is all about.

Consult with an experienced attorney who specializes in FERS Disability Retirement Law to see whether you may qualify for a benefit which is intended to return the vital signs back to a state of presumed existence.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire
OPM Medical Disability Retirement Attorney

 

Federal Employee Disability Retirement: What we Seek

Can everyone’s desire be placed under a single rubric, a single conceptual umbrella which captures the essence of human want?  Is it happiness we all seek?  A sense of security, or perhaps of joy, contentment, peace or love?

And if we were to all agree concerning the single most important goal for which we seek and strive, would we agree as to the definition of what it all means to each of us?  If of happiness, what would constitute the particulars of it?  For some, perhaps unlimited wealth?  For others, of love, endless satisfaction, or a single lifelong partner to share one’s dreams and aspirations?

What about for the person who suffers from a medical condition — perhaps of being “pain free” is what he or she would seek?  Of “good health” — is it something which we all seek but often take for granted and overlook?

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 job, what is sought is often a return to health.  Federal Disability Retirement is one component of a wide variety of elements which assists in returning to a level of health, by relieving the stresses inherent in attempting to juggle work and health-issues.

While filing for FERS Disability Retirement benefits may not be the final goal or solution to that which we seek, it is one component within the multiple elements which make up for the array of those things we seek.

Consult with a FERS attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law in order to attain and satisfy at least one of those components.  It is, in the end, an often-overlooked element necessary as a prerequisite for any of those other human goals — whether of happiness, contentment, peace or joy; and even of love.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire