Federal Gov. and USPS Disability Retirement: The Morning After

The next day always comes; regardless of the anticipatory delay in accepting the harsh reality of the coming days and months after the celebratory pause allowed through an event, a holiday or the respite of a weekend, the morning after always follows, and the reality of facing the inevitability of that which was and is, delayed perhaps for a moment and a glorious interlude, a certainty of subsequent coming.

So the treadmill begins again; the daily grind must be faced; the trauma experienced the day before must now be encountered anew the day after.

Holidays are great periods of quietude and temporary suspensions of reality, but when the presents are all opened and the guests have all left, the reality of facing one’s daily life must be refreshingly embraced.  For Federal and Postal workers who experience a medical condition, such that the medical condition impacts the ability to perform all of the essential elements of one’s job, consideration needs to be given for Disability Retirement — which provides a longer respite and the needed period of recuperative relief in order to attend to one’s medical conditions.

Delay for a period works for that period; procrastination in order to celebrate an event or a holiday is often a necessary interlude; but in the end, the Federal or Postal worker who must file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, whether under FERS or CSRS, through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, must make some serious decisions and consider the impending consequences, beginning on the day after, and sometimes even the morning after.

For the Federal or Postal Worker who faces a medical condition such that the medical condition prevents one from performing the essential elements of one’s job, it is always the morning after which is the critical period.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Disability Retirement for Federal Government Employees: Holiday Slowdown

The time between the 20th of December until the beginning of the following year has traditionally been a slowing down period, and Federal and Postal Workers who are preparing, formulating or filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS, or awaiting a decision from the Office of Personnel Management so that they can make future plans, present choices, and put their past behind them in order to move on to the next phase of their lives, must accept the period of respite.  

It is always better to complete a Federal Disability Retirement packet properly, over doing it quickly; and choice of timing is important in submitting a completed Federal Disability Retirement application.  Of course, preparatory work can be done during the slow-down period, but submitting anything to the Office of Personnel Management, or to one’s Agency, during this traditionally slow time, is counterproductive.  

What often happens is that the paperwork merely sits in a pile, unattended to, and the normal rule of “first in, first out” never seems to apply.  In fact, the opposite is true:  the mail which comes in first, sits on someone’s desk, and other mail which comes in later is piled on top of the mail which came first.  When the H.R. Specialist or the OPM Representative begins to sort through the stack of mail after the new year, the “later” mail is attended to first, and the one which was first in order to finally sifted through in the last order of sequence.  

Waiting for the 2-week period to pass before aggressively pursuing one’s Federal Disability Retirement application, whether under FERS or CSRS, is a wiser application of one’s time, effort, and options.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire