Robert R. McGill Administrative Law Blog on Lawyers.com

     Thanksgiving is now over.  There are barely 4 weeks before Christmas.  Yet, for those who are considering filing for disability retirement, time is not the issue; rather, it is whether or not a Federal employee is able to persist in continuing his or her employment before the time of recognition comes.  Recognition comes, generally speaking, in three steps:  A constant struggle with a medical condition, and the impediment such a medical condition creates, either in being able to come to work consistently, or in being able to perform the essential elements of the job sufficiently.  Second, an awareness that weekends and evenings are no longer a time of respite or enjoyment; rather, it is a time to recuperate from the work week.  And third, the psychological wall, of not wanting to acknowledge that one has a medical condition such that one can no longer perform at the level that one expects of one's self.  Remember this:  disability retirement is a benefit you earned when you worked with loyalty for the many years you have.  It does not mean that you cannot be productive in some other employment or capacity; and, certainly, you never want to continue to work such that, upon reaching retirement, you are so debilitated that you cannot enjoy your remaining years of retirement.  The year is coming to a close.  One's lifetime of accomplishments, however, extends far beyond the end of a fiscal year.

Sincerely, Robert R. McGill, Esquire