OPM FERS/CSRS Disability Retirement: The Limitation of Imagination

The imposition of one’s cultural nurturing, combined with the genetic determinism of one’s heritage, makes us who we are, and presents to the world the essence of each unique personality.  One likes to think of the infinite and limitless potentiality of each individual, and indeed, when one views with awe the artwork of Michelangelo or reads the linguistic brilliance of Shakespeare, the inspiration which such paradigms of qualitative magnitude provides as examples of what can be, leaves one with breathless wonderment.

In reality, of course, most of us live lives of trepidation, confined to contained anxieties because of the self-defeating boundaries set by a lack of imaginative fortitude.  We hear of preachings to “think outside of the box”, but once the uttered declarative is embraced, we are actually following the conventional wisdom and merely repeating that which is inside the proverbial box, only to follow the dictates of conventionality to follow the masses to go outside, when everybody and his brother has already been doing that.

Federal and Postal Workers who are hit by a medical condition, such that it forces one to consider viable alternatives and reconsider one’s career and vocation for the future, often have no choice but to step outside of the conventional box. Federal Disability Retirement for all Federal and Postal Workers, whether under FERS or CSRS, and filed through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, allows for that option of the human imagination going beyond the cultural or genetic determinism of one’s heritage, precisely by providing a semblance of financial security such that one can, after attending to one’s medical conditions, consider future employment options.

Federal Disability Retirement thus satisfies the foundation of human need; and it is only when the basic human needs are met, that one can then have the leisure of going beyond the limits of our own imaginations.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Medical Retirement for Federal Workers: Achieving the Objective

We often hear of people striving to achieve “the good life”, or perhaps, sometimes it is characterized as the “easy life”; one of leisure, pleasure, lack of worries (financial or otherwise), and at least in evocative pictorial representations, surrounded by multiple beautiful people all with dentures which gleam with gaiety and unbounded mirth.

How one achieves such a state of ecstasy (by following directions provided), where it exists (some utopian tropical island which can only be reached via a private plane), when to begin (by calling a certain toll-free number), and what to do (respond to the advertisement within the specified time period offered), are somewhat murky, but belief in such an objective to be achieved keeps human hope alive.  Somehow, such predilections of a state of finality seem hollow in the face of reality; it is the latter with which we must contend on a daily basis; the former is merely a fantasy left for dreamers and fictional characters.

For Federal and Postal employees who face a medical condition, such that the medical condition impacts one’s ability to perform the essential elements of one’s chosen Federal or Postal vocation, there is little extra leisure time to engage in such phantasms of thought.  Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether one is under FERS or CSRS, takes a clear, analytical approach, and one which cannot be sidelined by daydreams of virtual realities in a hemisphere of utopian musings.  But, then, Federal and Postal employees who suffer from medical conditions and must contend with the agency’s hostile response to such matters, already understand the necessity of engaging reality versus the world of imagination.

While it is sometimes preferable to get lost in the parallel universe of ecstatic fantasies, it is always the harsh reality of this world which must be the ultimate objective of achievement.  Fantasies are left for those precious hours of sleep one can enjoy; the rest of the waking hours must be to tackle the reality of the real.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

OPM Disability Retirement: The Pre-planned Life

Planning is part of our culture; from birth, to plan for old age; from the first entrance into a career, to consider the options for retirement funding; from the days of schooling, to determine the course of one’s career; and multiple intermediate pre-planning considerations, often mundane in nature, such as what to eat for dinner, how many children to have, where to live, etc.  Whether animals plan for the day, and to what extent, may be debated; what cannot be disputed is the extent and complexity in comparison to the pre-planning engaged in by Man.

But life rarely follows along the neat and uninterrupted course of a plan determined days, months or years prior; instead, the hiccups of life are what make for interesting interludes of unexpected turns and twists.  The proverbial nest egg may not have developed as quickly; one’s expectations of career goals may not have blossomed; a child may have come unplanned; or a lost puppy may have appeared at one’s doorstep.

Medical conditions are somewhat like those interruptions of interludes; they may not be as pleasant as some other hiccups, but they are realities which people have to deal with.

For Federal and Postal employees who find themselves in a situation where medical conditions prevent them from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, it is important to undertake two preliminary steps:  An assessment of the medical condition and whether it is likely to resolve within a year or less; if not, to investigate and become informed about Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS.

One of the elements which must be shown is that one’s medical condition will last a minimum of 12 months.  This can normally be easily accomplished by a doctor who can provide a prognosis fairly early on in the process.

And perhaps a third step:  A recognition that lives rarely travel along a pre-planned route, no matter what you were taught to believe, and more than that, that the value of one’s life should not be reflected by veering into the unknown.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal Employee Medical Retirement: The Value-Driven Life

Are expectations unrealistically embraced, adopted and concretized at the outset, without thoughts of malleability and alterations subject to changing circumstances? What happens when societal demands, whether explicit or implicit, clash with personal ambitions, to create a dissonance which tears apart the soul of Man?

The psychological chasm between what we believe our parents expect, what we desire, how we view the values as espoused in daily discourse with the world around us, becomes entrenched at an early age, and attaches to our psyche before we even have a chance to test the waters of reality. That is why most people find it difficult to adapt and to respond adequately to ever-changing circumstances.

Yet, the way in which we remain inflexible is a denial of reality; for, life rarely proceeds upon a linear direction without unexpected turns and twists. The love that we thought would be forever, ends in divorce and destruction; the career which we believed was the key to success, turns out to be a mere means to pay the bills; and the puppy that was to grow old with you, ceases to be before its time.

For Federal and Postal employees who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition impacts and prevents one from performing the essential elements of one’s job, the idea that life’s alterations must result in reactive responses different from the original course of one’s career, is not a new notion.

Filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether under FERS or CSRS, through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, is obviously a career-changing, major decision to make. But the very fact that the benefit’s availability for all Federal and Postal employees who have a minimum of 18 months of Federal Service under FERS, or 5 years under CSRS, at least allows for the option to be offered at all.

Options are avenues for responding to life’s reality of twists and turns, in real time, based upon real circumstances. The paradigm set as a child may be nothing more than a dream once enjoyed; but in growing up, those childhood dreams needed to be adjusted in order to accommodate the reality of our daily lives.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Disability Retirement for Federal Government Employees: Wrong Turns

We often take wrong turns in life, or unexpected ones, and end up in places, circumstances and situations which were unintended, or at the very least, not included in our childhood dreams.  But the fact that one’s original plans failed to materialize in full, or resulted in an altered state different from nascent dreams, does not make the consequential endpoint any less valid or fulfilling.

Life often takes alternate twists and turns different from one’s original and neat packaging — based upon what life “should be” as opposed to what life “is” in the harsh reality of everyday existence.

For the Federal and Postal Worker who is beset with a medical condition such that the medical conditions prevents one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, the trauma of the condition itself is enough of a twist in life to contend with, leaving aside the decision to change one’s career and intended path of one’s dreams.

Regret and remorse often abounds, but one should look at it in a different light.  Rarely is a life which fails to change from the paradigm formulated in childhood, relevant or fulfilling throughout adulthood.

Federal Disability Retirement benefits is an available tool for the Federal and Postal Worker who must consider a turn in life.  Filed through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, it is available precisely for those Federal and Postal Workers under FERS or CSRS who must face the prospect of make a turn — and where a medical condition is involved, it is neither a “wrong” one, nor one which must necessarily disrupt a childhood paradigm.  It simply is one of those “ises” in life.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire