CSRS & FERS Medical Disability Retirement: Acts of Futility

It was Heidegger who observed that our everyday lives were merely distractions in order to avoid the ultimate encounter with our own mortality — a revelation too profound to contemplate, and thus we engage in meaningless and monotonous projects in order to shift our focus away from the stark reality of life and death.

It is indeed the human species which continually and perennially embraces various acts of futility, despite irrefutable evidence that such actions lead to no fruitful or purposive outcome.  But to cease such engagements would be to stop and think; and reflection would mean a forced quietude in which contemplation upon the state of one’s being would be unavoidable; and from there, the vast void of nihilism might encroach, and so perhaps resumption of purposeless, repetitive treadmill-like engagements are best for sanity and survival.

For Federal and Postal employees who suffer from medical conditions such that one is prevented from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, however, contemplation in filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is a necessity which cannot be avoided.   Further, the greatest singular act of futility in preparing a Federal Disability Retirement application is to wait upon an agency to act; for, as agencies exist in order to appear to act with purpose, but where inaction allows for greater exigencies and justification for existence; as such, agencies rarely act, and when they do, they do so to the detriment of the Federal or Postal employee.

Thus, the hard rule should always be:  be proactive and do not wait for an agency to accommodate or otherwise assist you.  Distractions and diversions are fine in life; but when the necessity arises to attend to one’s medical needs, you need to act, and act in the best interest of one’s own being.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal Disability Retirement Benefits for Federal & Postal Employees: Point of Necessity

Just as one should purchase insurance based upon the worst-case scenario, so one should generally prepare for anything in life with unexpected consequences in mind.  This is similar to the proper approach in preparing, formulating, deciding, and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS & CSRS.  People will often call an attorney only when he or she “thought it necessary”.  But who determined the point of necessity?  If the individual who determines the point of necessity is the same person who finds him or herself at the point of necessity, then it is often too little too late. 

Can most cases be reversed and won even after an initial denial?  Yes.  Can most cases be reversed and won even after a second denial at the Reconsideration Stage?  Yes.  Can most cases be reversed and won even after an initial denial, a denial at the Reconsideration Stage, then an adverse Initial Decision by an Administrative Judge at the Merit Systems Protection Board?  Perhaps.  How about thereafter?  You are then asking if, after all of the facts have been put forth, after all of the stages of consideration by the administrative process of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether an error in the application of the law can be found.  Yes, at each state of the process, a Federal Disability Retirement application can be won; however, remember the the “point of necessity” is not best determined by the one who thinks it is finally necessary; it is often best determined by an experienced OPM Disability attorney.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire