Last Updated on February 13, 2013 by FERS Disability Attorney
It may well be that technological advances will one day allow for imputed algorithms to precisely calibrate and decide everything in life; but for the time being, we must all deal with the human element in the process of decision-making.
Comparative stories abound about how X obtained disability retirement benefits with minimal documentary proof, and even less of an actual medical condition. It is always an anomaly as to how one can possibly answer the query which involves the following: “X told a friend of Y, who knows of Z who filed and got his Disability Retirement benefits approved within T-amount of time”.
The particulars of each case must always determine the outcome of the case; some stories become inflated with the telling of the narrative when passed through third parties multiple times; but, on the other hand, there is the possibility that the final narration of the story is entirely true. The reason is because the human element is still the determinative factor in any Federal Disability Retirement application.
There is no computerized algorithm which is applied in making a determination at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. And, so long as human beings continue to remain a part of the administrative, bureaucratic process in scrutinizing a Federal Disability Retirement application, by analyzing the content and substance and applying the relevant laws, there will never be a perfect continuity or consistency of application.
In some ways, this is a good thing; for, as each human being is unique, so the story of each medical condition and the impact upon one’s inability to perform all of the essential elements of one’s positional duties, in preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, whether under FERS or CSRS, is also particularized and unparalleled. May it be so in the future, lest we ourselves become mere drones in this world of conventionalized perspectives.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire