After representing so many Federal and Postal employees over these many years, there are stories which continue to sadden me; as with all professionals, I attempt to bifurcate my life, and not get “personally” involved with my cases. To blur the lines between providing sound and effective legal advice, and getting “involved” in the personal tragedies of my clients, would certainly undermine the professional effectiveness needed in providing for my clients. To a great extent, I am successful. Every now and then, however, I am informed of a tragedy — and it touches me. Perhaps that is a good thing; for one can become insensitive, or “de-sensitized” in a way that can be detrimental.
I try and explain to many people that getting Federal Disability Retirement benefits should never be a judgment upon one’s career — let alone one’s life. A career can span a lifetime, or it can extend for a couple of years (i.e., at least the 18 months of Federal Service that is needed to even qualify under FERS). However long, to come to a point in one’s career where it becomes necessary to acknowledge to one’s self that certain medical conditions are directly impacting one’s ability to perform the essential elements of the job — such an admission should never be interpreted to mean that such a circumstance has somehow devalued the worth of a person. Human beings are complex entities, bundled up by personality, uniqueness, family, job, hobbies, thoughts — a compendium of a history of one’s life. Note that I merely inserted the concept of “job” within a sequence of many facets. And, indeed, one’s job is important — it takes us away from the many other bundles of our lives, and forces us to expend 8, 10, 12 or more hours per day, Monday thru Friday, and some weekends, too. But that which takes up a large quantity of our time does not necessarily or logically result in the definitional essence of a human being; the fact that we spend a great deal of time in the bathroom does not mean that such an activity defines our “essence”. “Worth” of a human being attaches to each of us, and is inseparable from each human being. One’s job and career constitute only a small part of us. Let’s keep that in mind, and in its proper perspective.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Pre-Application Considerations, Reflections of an OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer, Resigning or Being Separated From a Federal Agency for Medical Problems or Other Reasons | Tagged: Applying for Federal Disability Retirement is a Difficult Decision, disability retirement for SBA employees, essential elements of jobs, federal disability law blog, federal disability retirement is not work retirement, federal employee lawyer, federal employee work related disability, federal government disability retirement, federal soup forum, FERS disability retirement, gsa medical retirement, injured federal workers, injured ill letter carrier, injured light limited duty supervisor or 204b, legal effectiveness in government disability claims, light at the end of the tunnel, limited jobs for light duty employees, maintaining a positive attitude, mental wall to overcome, National Reassessment Process (NRP), OPM disability doesn't have to be job-related, opm disability retirement and the story behind a disability claim, overcoming insecurity and low self esteem, owcp denied claim, Postal disability retirement, postal employee career choices, postal service layoffs of light duty employees, postal workers injured on the job, postal workers owcp rights attorney, preserving one's deteriorating health, professional services to us government disabled employees, providing an effective legal advice, removing an federal employee with a disability, restoring your health with a job you can do, story of human tragedy, the potential disability retirement applicant, time to change careers, USPS disability retirement, usps financial problems and injured postal workers, value of a human being not defined by disabilities, when it is time to move on, when light duty is not longer available to postal workers, when to apply for opm fers disability retirement | Leave a comment »