Medical Retirement for Federal Workers: August, Vacations, & OPM

August is traditionally a time of vacations; a period of respite, before the onset of school and the busy schedules of parents.  Government offices slow down, and with the coinciding impact of furloughs mandated through automatic imposition, delays in work and accomplishment of cases become incrementally evident, like reverberations from the slow moan of an earthquake.

The lazy slapping waves mixed with the taste of sea salt may lull the vacationer into an isolated sense of calm and quietude; but for the Federal or Postal worker suffering from a medical condition, who is contemplating filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, or who is in the midst of the process of formulating one’s case, or for those who have already filed and are merely anxiously awaiting a decision — that time of temporary rejuvenation is a needed escape, despite never being able to fully separate oneself from the medical condition which impacts one’s life.

That is the strange phenomena of a medical condition — unless it has been a lifelong condition, it is a part of one’s existence and being which only constitutes a minor percentage of the entirety of one’s lifetime; yet, it often consumes the greater portion of one’s thoughts, actions and ruminations, and undermines that time of leisure known popularly as a “vacation“.

Medical conditions are a reality to be dealt with; vacations are optional times of leisure; and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, is a choice which allows for a combination of the two:  a time of respite in order to become rehabilitated, and to recuperate in order to deal with the reality of a medical condition.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement for Federal and USPS Workers: Vacations

Vacations are a necessary part of the modern world; the stress of work, the burn-out factor, the recognition that the constant treadmill of daily toil, all serve to tear down and destroy the motivational underpinnings of every worker.  It is a temporary respite; a time of rejuvenation and, hopefully, more than merely an opportunity to complete chores which otherwise are left undone.  It is also a time of reflection and assessment.

For those preparing, formulating, and contemplating filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, vacations often merely illustrate the intractable nature of one’s medical condition, and the absolute necessity to change one’s course in life.  The chronic nature of a medical condition, by its nature of progressively deteriorating one’s body or mind, reveals itself when a vacation is taken:  the shortness of the time period of the vacation serves to emphasize the seriousness of the medical condition; the medical condition itself manifests the fact that a week, a couple of weeks, or even a month, are not long enough to contend with the progressively deteriorating nature of the disability or chronic condition.

Time for reflection allows a person to face the reality of an impending occurrence.  That is often a good thing.  One of the criteria which must be met in a Federal Disability Retirement application is that the medical condition must last for a minimum of 12 months.  One does not have to wait for the 12 months; one does not have to be unemployed or on LWOP for 12 months.  Rather, the prognosis for the medical condition is such that the condition must prevent one from being able to perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s job for a minimum of 12 months.

On a vacation, the Federal or Postal employee will often recognize that time is short.  Reflection is a positive thing; necessary changes, upon reflection, often become exposed, and it is often a time when the coalescence of three factors comes about:  thought, words, then action.  It is the latter of the three which determines the course of a positive future.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire