Options for OPM Disability Retirement

November 15, 2018

[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″ el_class=”section section1″][vc_column_text]The most frustrating of all options is by far the prerecorded telephone option. If you press an incorrect button or option, or cannot remember the correct numeral identified after being offered an extensive list of options (which may not seem to fit exactly what you are seeking to accomplish), you must wait until another option is eventually offered to return to the general directory. You must then listen again for (and hopefully select) the desired option.

Is it that these automated and recorded systems have become more grading to the nerves as time goes on, or could it be that we have become desensitized to these encounters due to frequency? Or maybe we have lost the ability to practice patience with the robotic voices that seem to have replaced a human voice on the other end of the phone? What about these recordings is so infuriating? What is it about the automated recording of a person we’ve never met that is so much more irritating than speaking to a live person?

Perhaps we are aware of the futility of landing a sarcastic response to the recording, as opposed to lashing out upon an actual person who possesses actual feelings, and whose day we will undoubtedly ruin by shouting at and/or demeaning them? We are often faced with options in our daily lives. At times it may seem as though there are too many. We may feel overwhelmed or are left with a sense of confusion. At other times it may seem as though the options are available to us but we cannot them because we are unable to look closer and see the ones slightly out of view. Other times we are too stubborn to admit our ignorance.

In an instance such as these it may be best to enlist the help of someone who can uncover the hidden options, speak the unstated, or educate us about the otherwise unknown. The options available though may be restricted or limited as in a Federal or Postal employee experiencing a medical condition that prevents the employee from being able to perform one or more of the essential job duties. So a few questions must be posed: How important is one’s health? Is the deterioration health exacerbated by the job the employee is remaining in important enough to continue, despite the inherent decline in health? If the employee believes that it is, perhaps disability retirement is not the right option for them

The three options presented must be considered based on one’s health:

-The effects upon the employee’s health if they remain in their position

-Whether the Federal Agency or the Postal Service decides to tolerate the employee’s extreme number of absences

-Inability to perform many of the duties and essential functions of the employee’s job.

Once these options have been considered, if the Federal or Postal employee decides to move forward with the preparation and submission of a Federal Disability Retirement application to be filed with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether this employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, it becomes time to take other options under consideration as well. An example of these options include whether one wants to represent themselves in the process, or if they would rather seek professional counsel, which would be the preferable and undoubtedly most beneficial, option.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”34593″ img_size=”292×285″ style=”vc_box_shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]