Medical Retirement Benefits for US Government Employees: The Waiting

We wait in lines and on telephones; we wait for the mail and to be served in restaurants and supermarkets; waiting is a necessity, based upon a closely-held belief that the end-product for which we expend such virtues as patience is worthy of the investment of time. There is always a quick calculation which must be engaged before the waiting can begin; of weighing the importance of the service or product to be received, in conjunction with the time it will take to attain the goal of receipt, and in further consideration of the comparative value of other things “to do”.

For the Federal or Postal Worker who is filing for Federal disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal Worker is under FERS or CSRS, the worth of waiting must always be balanced with the proverbial question, “For what?”

Waiting for a Federal agency or the U.S. Postal Service to initiate an action which may or may not impact a Federal Disability Retirement application is normally not “worth” it, for such a wait may never produce anything fruitful. Waiting because to do otherwise — to act — will incur efforts of cognitive or physical exhaustion is something which will only delay an inevitable need, and is therefore unwise to engage, is something that must be often countered by sheer force of will.

On the other hand, once a Federal Disability Retirement application is filed with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the real game of waiting begins, and one which no one has very little and limited control over. For, ultimately, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management — the agency which has the authority to approve or deny a Federal Disability Retirement case — has the cards which count, and the requested product of the goal to attain: a decision on a Federal Disability Retirement application filed by the Federal or Postal Worker.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

Federal and Postal Disability Retirement: The Bailiwick of Time

Time tends to incrementally, insidiously, and imperceptibly creep up and, with a sudden shudder of fright, present itself in a crisis of thought. Whether we control it; to what extent we are slaves to it; all that we can do is manage it, and to recognize that the bailiwick of time begins within our own minds, extends to the world around us, and ends when nightfall and the slumber of silence overtakes the heavy-laden eyelids to lead us back into the abyss and recesses of our own minds.

Waiting fails to extend the objective existence of time; procrastination merely kicks the proverbial can down the pathway where all things accumulate and aggregate, until time runs out and a crisis ensues. When a statute governs a legal or administrative process, that circle of authority must be followed, unless one is prepared to try and argue a narrow exception which may or may not allow for the extension of a deadline. That is indeed a strange concept of foreboding: time tied to a “deadline”; it evokes images of cessation, termination, and end to survivability.

For Federal and Postal Workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition prevents one from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, the bailiwick of time begins to run; not only with respect to the necessity of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management but, more importantly, if the Federal or Postal Worker is separated from service, that Federal or Postal Worker has only one (1) year from the time of separation to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.

If that one-year Statute of Limitations is not met or complied with, you lose your right forever to file for the benefit. In days of yore, if a wrong was committed or violated, the bailiff was sent out to enforce the law; for the Federal or Postal employee who procrastinates, it is the bailiwick of time which will come in the stealth of night, and impose itself before one is even aware of the steady march of life’s linear and inevitable watch, and confine the violator to the law of limitations.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

OPM Disability Retirement: “The Grab-bag”, “Volume” and the “Last Minute” Case

Procrastination leads to filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS at the last minute, which leads one to simply attach a volume of medical documentation and list a grab-bag of medical conditions. 

Sometimes, such an approach is thought to be the only way of preparing, formulating, and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application, especially when there is little or no time left in which to meet the statutory deadline for filing (a Federal or Postal employee must file within 1 year of being separated from Federal Service).  It may well be the only way to file, given that a Federal or Postal employee has only days left to submit the Federal Disability Retirement application. 

The fact is, one can only argue the merits of a case if, and only if, one has met the Statute of Limitations; if one fails to file in a timely manner, then there is simply no opportunity at all to argue the substantive basis for the Federal Disability Retirement application.  Yet, even in “Last Minute” cases, it is important to pause and attempt to streamline a case.  Why?  Because once a case has been filed, and the Statute of Limitations has passed, a Federal or Postal employee is unable to change or otherwise amend the stated and identified medical conditions, as listed on Standard Form 3112A. 

As such, even at the last minute, the grab-bag volume case should be — and can be — prepared and formulated with some thought.  In the end, it will serve the Federal or Postal employee who is filing for OPM Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS, well.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

OPM Disability Retirement: Last Minute Filing

Too often, I receive calls from Federal and Postal employees (or rather, formerly thereof) who have waited until the very last conceivable moment to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS & CSRS.  Yes, I realize that time erodes away slowly, almost imperceptibly, and all of a sudden it is an emergency.  Can a case be put together within a couple of weeks?  Yes.  Is it best to wait until the very last minute?  No.  Remember that all Federal and Postal employees only have up until one (1) year from being separated from Federal Service, to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.  But life happens; time slips away; what was once 6 months is now only 30 days, or perhaps 2 weeks. 

I may have told this story before, but here goes:  On the desk of a civil clerk in a local County Courthouse, is a sign which reads:  “The fact that you procrastinated does not make your filing my emergency”.  That is essentially true; however, whenever I get calls by panicked individuals who have failed to use the 1-year Statute of Limitations wisely, in most cases, I have been able to properly put the case together, and file it on an emergency basis.  In such circumstances, adaptation is the key:  some things need to be filed later, but the essential forms to meet the deadline must be immediately filed.  There are very few true emergencies in life, and most cases can meet the deadline — no matter how much the Federal or Postal Employee has procrastinated.  However, it is better not to wait until tomorrow, that which can be done today. 

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire