FERS Medical Retirement: The Dissolution of the Monasteries

One is puzzled as to why it is being read, why it continues to fascinate; and why continue to plod through a work comprised of 500+ pages with hundreds of footnotes and meticulously annotated and “sourced” — of life in 16th Century England as the religious monasteries will be dissolved under the mandate of King Henry VIII.  Perhaps it is because, in reading all of the minutiae of life in the 1500s, one realizes that it was a different world, no less alien than a spaceship from Mars or from some other solar system.

We live in a world which is the culmination of absurdity — of school shootings being an accepted part of our psyche; of an ever-growing explosion of teen depression, anxiety and other psychiatric disorders where psychotropic medication regimens have become the norm; and where all of the traditional institutions we once trusted and depended upon have failed us: The schools; the churches; the government; the local community.

Other worlds, other times; reading about an era centuries ago reminds us that change is inevitable; that history is never static; that there are trade-offs in every dimension of life.  One is struck by the limitations imposed upon a person’s life — where options in making a living were essentially predetermined, both by station and status upon birth, or by the restrictions of one’s abilities; that religious orders offered a vibrant accommodation for intellectual engagement and a steady, if somewhat limited, standard of living.

But times were changing; the monastic dissolution was just around the corner; and as this stupendous work annotates well, nothing is ever static.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are facing the dissolution of a career with the Federal Government or the U.S. Postal Service as a result of a chronic medical condition, consider the option of an OPM Medical Retirement.

For, like the dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, when there was no other option but to accept the change, the Federal or Postal worker who must face the prospect of change because of a medical condition which is no less restrictive, at least an OPM Medical Retirement is an available option of last resort, when you are no longer able to perform one or more of the essential functions of your job.

Contact a FERS Disability Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and begin the process of bypassing the potential dissolution of you job by preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application under the FERS system.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill
Lawyer exclusively representing Federal and Postal employees to secure their Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

 

OPM Medical Retirement for Federal & Postal Workers: The Saddest Story

What makes for a sad story?  What touches us as the saddest story?  Is it a tragedy unexpected — as in, the death of a parent, leaving behind a grieving spouse or partner, and dumbfounded kids?  Or is it the story of a promising young person whose life is cut short by an accident?

Does “fault” matter?  If death or grave injury occurs, does the sadness of the story depend upon whether and to whom one can ascribe blame?  And does intentionality also come in as a factor — of whether the death, injury or unfortunate circumstances resulted from a deliberate and intentional act, or whether it was an “accident” where the event just played itself out without any participatory involvement of the “victim” in a given case?  Or, is the sad or saddest story dependent upon the viewer, the reader, the witness, etc. — of how sensitive that person is, whether he or she possesses an empathic character or one which is somewhat more blunted and callous?

Or, as is more likely — does it depend upon both: Of the story and the receptor in combination to determine the “sadness” of a story or narrative?

In the end, the saddest story combines the elements identified: Of a potentiality cut short; involving circumstances beyond one’s control; where fault cannot be ascribed; and where someone must pay an unwilling price.  Sounds somewhat like a Federal or Postal employee who must file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.

Of course, there are greater tragedies — where death and grieving widows are concerned; but one should not discount the plight of the Federal or Postal employee who can no longer continue in his or her career, and must file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.

Contact an attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS, and begin the process of preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, and preparing the Applicant’s Statement of Disability for OPM to ponder the saddest story.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill
Lawyer exclusively representing Federal and Postal employees to secure their Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

 

FERS Disability Retirement: The Expression of Man

Work is the expression of Man; whether as an explosion of creativity or a grimace from overdoing it, it is an extension of that which is inherent and natural.  Whether in building or deconstructing; of newness or of a renovation; perhaps as part-time or beyond a full-time schedule; the expression of men and women is to work.

We often make up sub-categories of it — of a “career” as opposed to a “job”; a “professional” or an amateur; of a “white collar” position in contradistinction to a “blue collar” worker; but in the generic aggregate, it is all “work”.  Look all around us; the product of work, of Man — men, women, old and young — engaging in the building of a society in bits and pieces, expressing themselves by manner of an activity that takes various forms, multiple hands and countless ideas.  To cease to work is tantamount to stopping that which is the natural expression of Man.

That is why, when a medical condition begins to prevent and impact a person’s ability and capacity to perform all of the essential elements his or her Federal or Postal job, it may be time to consider filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.

Consult with an OPM Attorney who specializes in Federal Disability Retirement Law, and begin the process of extending the natural expression of Man — by allowing for such creativity and expression to present itself in another vocation outside of the Federal government.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Disability Retirement under FERS: Those Days of Luster

Perhaps it is a captured moment of memory; or, more likely, just a feeling of a time long past; there were those days of luster when everything seemed to be working in cadence, the pistons were firing away in perfect unison, the children were all behaving (relatively speaking), and life was a golden horizon yet to fulfill the dreams and hopes dared to be dreamed and hoped for.

Some days are like that; certain moments when friends and family gather together and laughter abounds; and even a year here or there throughout a person’s lifetime, where the luster of life is reflected by the sheen of success, the joy of laughter and the bright rays of hope for the future.  Those days of luster, however, can easily fade with the creases of time — by a mud splat, a moment of tremulous hesitation, or an unexpected interruption by life’s ravages, such as a medical condition.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal employees who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition prevents the Federal or Postal employee from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, those days of luster may have come to an end and consideration must be given to filing for FERS Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Time is never on our side; those days of luster were always fleeting and momentary; but it is the hope for tomorrow that needs always to be sought, and preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application may be the best bet in reclaiming those former days of luster.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Disability Retirement Benefits: The person I once knew

We all carry about that image of who we once were; or, perhaps of many of the person we once knew.  Which memory-bank do we wash upon, once the shores of present images dissipate and the lapping waves of bygone days have begun to fade, like the vestiges of old photographs submitting to time’s ravages in the decay of life’s cycles of natural degradation?

The person I once knew — was it of the boy who sat upon a beach and giggled as the foam of gentle waves sang upon the tickling bare feet?  Or the teenager who had acted like a fool and allowed for regrets to shadow one’s conscience for having been unkind to the unpopular girl who later turned into the beautiful swan and sang the merriment of forlorn days away?  Or of the young man or woman who had hopes and unlimited dreams that somehow were closeted for a future time, never to be reopened to dust them off when the opportunities had come and gone?

The person I once knew was the one who defied danger and laughed in the face of a greasy cheeseburger, but now is fearful of the next health crisis and the pain that wrings the neck of a squawking chicken.

For the Federal or Postal employee who suffers from a medical condition where the medical condition begins to prevent the Federal or Postal worker’s ability and capacity to continue to perform all of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, it is no longer important to consider the person whom once I knew, but rather, the person who will move forward into the future.

Preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to be filed with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, is an indication that the greater importance of one’s future self is being recognized as opposed to the person I once knew, thus allowing for the past to be buried in favor of a future still bright with tomorrow’s promises.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Legal Representation for OPM Disability Claims: The stand-around guy

It is pointed out in contrast to the other finger pointed towards another — not the “stand up” guy (or girl), but the “stand-around” guy (or girl).   The former refers to a person who can be trusted at all times, is straightforward when asked about his or her opinions on a matter, and is generally known as an individual of “good character”.  By contrast, the latter describes a person who is unsure of himself; who loiters because he cannot decide what his purpose is for being anywhere; and is generally picked last, or next to last, when teams are chosen for a pick-up game of basketball or touch football.

It refers to a person who is the “extra” and the odd-man out where, on dinner dates of foursomes or six-somes or whatever-somes, arrives alone and makes it into an awkward three-some, five-some or other-some with an odd number.  She is the little sister tag-along, the younger brother pop-up character and the whac-a-mole that keeps reappearing no matter how many hints are given that his or her company is no longer needed, is undesired or otherwise disinvited; but to be direct and pointed to the stand-around guy would be cruelty in its worst form, as he or she doesn’t quite understand or would rather be subjected to the indignities of being the butt of all jokes rather than to be sent off into the lonely despair of self-confinement and isolation lost upon an island of one’s own thoughts.

He is the person who arrives and never knows where to stand; the last one to be seated, and only if their is an available chair vacated; and yet, the last one to leave despite the desertion of a party where he was unnoticed, never talked to nor engaged and included in conversations where circles and semi-circles of people gathered but no one noticed.

The stand-around guy is the “extra” on a movie-set hoping to get noticed, yet too fearful of such notoriety; and as the activity of the main set continues to focus upon the stars and central figures upon the stage which we call “life”, he or she shuffles about for years and extending into decades, unknowingly contributing to the drama of civilization’s inertness where kindness is rarely shown, humanity is concealed from history, and the cruelty to life’s misery keeps bubbling to the surface like a volcanic eruption percolating unnoticed beneath the seething surface of hidden appearances.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, where the medical condition begins to prevent the Federal or Postal employee from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job, does it often seem like the rest of the Federal Agency or the Postal Service is beginning to treat you like the “stand-around guy”?

Is it recognized and subtly acknowledged that you are no longer part of that “mission”, and because of your extensive leave-usage or LWOP excessiveness, or merely because you asserted your rights under FMLA, that now relegated into that status of persona non grata, the leper who was mistakenly given a pass out of the leper colony, or like the individual who says things embarrassingly in crowds of socialites who snub their noses at those who feign to be a part of the pseudo-aristocracy?

If you are beginning to be treated like that stand-around guy, it is likely time to begin to prepare, formulate and file an effective Federal Disability Retirement application, to be submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset — lest the stand-around guy becomes the invisible man whose memory is quickly extinguished because of a removal action that came suddenly and unexpectedly from the upper echelons of powers-that-be, who decided to rid the Agency or the Postal Service of that stand-around guy whose presence was no longer needed.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement: Mastery of Life

It is what we all strive for; as depicted in cult followings and media outlets, it is a state of representation attained through travels to the Himalayas, or after years of struggling in a Zen monastery (and engaging in Tai chi battles with inept masked ninjas) and gaining unexplainable enlightenment (why couldn’t the same happen in the living room of one’s own home?).  The truth is, the mastery of life is merely a mundane affair.

It is where one finds a rhythm within the daily obstacles of life, when recognition of distinguishing between a real “crisis” and an irritating problem is quickly resolved; and how bumbling through problems encountered in youth is replaced by smooth sailing with unruffled feathers in meeting obligations, confronting difficulties and engaging the monotony of daily living.

In the West, just when such a state of quietude is reached, society discards it all and favors youth over the aging, incompetence over experience, and slow but steady progress over fresh “new ideas” (which never are, but the discovery of which young people think they have been the first to encounter, as if the wheel on one’s car is an invention recently revealed).  This disregard and (ultimately) disrespect is magnified when a person is beset with a medical condition — precisely because being hit with a medical condition mirrors how treatment of the aged facilitates, but only at an exponentially quickened pace.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical conditions, such that the medical condition begins to impact the performance of one or more of the essential elements of one’s positional duties within the Agency or the U.S. Postal Service, this phenomena becomes a daily occurrence.

For years, we accumulate and derive the experience of plenitude and glean through trial and error, attaining a state of wisdom aggregated within the confines of one’s skull, with a loci traveling from home to desk, then back home again.  When a medical condition impacts the Federal or Postal employee, one would think that a race would be on to preserve that body of knowledge, to contain it (as in futuristic movies) with aldehyde fixation in gentrified forms of cryonics in order to reserve unseen answers to unforeseen circumstances, all for the benefit of the “mission of the agency“.  But no — that is not what occurs.  Instead, for Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition impacts one or more of the essential elements of one’s job (but normally not all), the tired routine is of commonplace doldrums of ineptitude and incompetence:  “get the bum out”.

For the Federal or Postal employee who suffers from a medical condition, and further suffers the fool resulting from that medical condition, filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether one is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, is often the best avenue away from the madness of disregard.  But, then, perhaps we all have it wrong; perhaps filing for Medical Retirement through OPM shows and reveals that “mastery of life” we all seek, like the Shaolin Monk of yore who sought enlightenment elsewhere, and attained it within.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

Federal Disability Retirement: Delaying the Inevitable

Projection of future events, anticipation of coming circumstances, and rumination upon conflicts yet to occur; these are very human experiences beyond mere base anxieties.  Other primates may recognize and prepare to react to events about to develop, but the wide spectrum of time between the current state of affairs, and the projected future event, is perhaps the most telling factor in differentiating the complexity of human beings from other animals.

It is precisely because of this capacity to foretell, and thereby choose to forego, that we often allow for troubles to exponentially quantify, despite out own self-knowledge as to what is in our own best interests.  Perhaps that, too, is a telltale sign of complexity:  the ability to do that which is against one’s own egocentric universe.

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition, such that the medical condition begins to prevent the Federal or Postal worker from performing one or more of the essential elements of one’s positional duties, the recognition that current circumstances cannot last forever, or even for very much longer, occurs fairly early on.

Is it the fear of actually acknowledging the truth of the inevitable?  Or, perhaps, merely a prayerful hope that things will change, that the next doctor’s visit will further enlighten, or that the medication prescribed, the surgery noted, and the therapy scheduled, will somehow improve such that one can continue to perform the essential elements of one’s Federal or Postal job?

Medical conditions, however, have a blunt and honest way of informing; it is not like a whisper or a winter’s cold which nags for a few days; the former can be clarified by asking to speak louder; the latter can be attended to by rest and a generous infusion of liquids.  But a medical condition?  It is that stressor in life where, despite out best efforts to ignore or wish away, the reality of its existence portends of our vulnerability and our fragile nature.

Preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, is often the next, and inevitable step, towards securing a better tomorrow.  It is that “tomorrow” which cannot be delayed for too long, and despite the greater nature of our souls in hoping for a brighter future, the truth is that delaying the inevitable does nothing to stop the rotation of the earth on its axis; it merely fools the fool who foolishly fails to fully follow the path away from folly.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire

 

OPM Medical Retirement Attorney: The Cauldron of One’s Past

The oversized iron pot hangs over the open fire, and the gurgling of ingredients steams and burps the lid in predictable sequences of rhythmic timing; the aroma is an admixture of sweet and mysterious combinations of one knows-not-what; perhaps of bones, marrow and herbs, here a whiff of something which touches upon the dark recesses of one’s memory, and there a hint of harboring horrors, reminding us of past deeds and loathsome reminiscences.

The figure who stands hunched over the source of pervading uprisings, is covered in a dark shawl; a bony hand gripping the large wooden ladle, mixing, turning, crouching over to sniff and taste; and from the chasm of the figure’s hollow mouth, toothless and echoing a chamber of snorting chafes, the sigh of satisfaction emits, as the cauldron of one’s past is ready to be served.  And so the story goes.

Who among us would want the fullness of one’s past and history of deeds to be revealed?  What pot would hold the full taste of one’s misdeeds, private concerns and actions engaged?

For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are considering filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits, the process itself sometimes feels like one is forced to partake of a witch’s brew — who will be in the mix?  What private information will have to be revealed?  When will the pot of information be ready?  Who will mix the ingredients?  The mysteries contained within the mixture of the witch’s brew is indeed terrifying.  Every process which is unknown and, moreover, unknowable, is one fraught with concerns and trepidation of purpose.

For Federal and Postal employees under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, the decision to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is like the witch’s cauldron — it must bring to the fore one’s current circumstances (the medical condition), the impact upon the future (finances, future job prospects, etc.), and potentially the confrontation with one’s past (agencies love to do that).

The key is to understand the complexities of the administrative process, and to maneuver through the bureaucracy of the witch’s brew.  In doing that, one must always be cognizant of the cauldron of one’s past, and keep out of the reach and grasp of those bony fingers which reach out to encircle one’s throat, lest you become an ingredient in the admixture of the skeletons found at the bottom of the pot.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire