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Applying for disability retirement benefits

Applying for disability retirement benefits
Decisions by the Appellate Division reported on November 13, 2008

According to Comptroller's 2008 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for New York State Common Retirement Fund, during the 2007 calendar year 143 members of the State?s Police and Fire Retirement System and 798 members of the State?s Employees Retirement System applied for some form of disability retirement ? ordinary disability retirement; performance of duty disability retirement; or accidental disability retirement.

Not all such applications are approved by the Comptroller and frequently the response to the rejection of the claim for disability retirement benefits is litigation initiated by the applicant.

The Appellate Division, Third Department on November 13, 2008, handed down the following decisions involving challenges to the Comptroller's disapproving claims for disability retirement benefits:

1. A State Trooper, injured in 2001 when his State Police vehicle was struck from behind while parked applied for ordinary disability retirement benefits and accidental disability retirement benefits. The Comptroller rejected the Trooper?s application, deciding that the Trooper ?was not permanently disabled and many of his symptoms were fictitious rather than anatomical.? Matter of Doran v New York State & Local Police & Fire Retirement Sys.

2. A correction officer with the Westchester County Department of Correction applied for performance of duty disability retirement benefits after he injured his neck and back while getting up from a chair to answer a telephone. The Comptroller denied the application, finding that the officer failed to demonstrate that his injuries were "the natural and proximate result of any act of any inmate." Matter of Davis v DiNapoli

3. A police officer employed by the Town of Hempstead, Nassau County, sustained an injury to his right hand on two separate occasions while in the process of apprehending suspects. The Comptroller ultimately concluded that officers' injuries did not result from accidents within the meaning of Retirement and Social Security Law §363 and denied the application. Matter of Hughes v Hevesi

4. A police officer with the Town of Harrison Police Department in Westchester County filed applications for accidental and performance of duty disability retirement benefits alleging that he was permanently incapacitated from performing his police officer duties due to work-related injuries he suffered to his back after slipping and falling on ice. The Comptroller denied benefits, finding that police officer had not proven that his permanent disability was the natural and proximate result of his fall. Matter of Macri v DiNapoli

5. A police officer employed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey injured his knee when, while helping to set up a training exercise in a garage, he stepped backwards and caught his foot in a sewer grate. His application for accidental disability retirement benefits was denied on the ground that the incident which caused his injury was not an accident within the meaning of Retirement and Social Security Law §363. Matter of O'Brien v New York State Comptroller

6. Another police officer employed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was injured when he slipped and fell on snow and ice that had accumulated on a wooden plank that had been laid down between the sidewalk and the street in front of his command post. His application for accidental disability retirement benefits was denied on the ground that the incident that caused his injury was not an accident within the meaning of Retirement and Social Security Law §363. Matter of Confreda v New York State Comptroller

7. After he sustained various injuries in November 2000 when he slipped and fell on a patch of ice while hooking up an additional water line, an experienced firefighter applied for and was granted performance of duty disability retirement benefits. The firefighter later applied for accidental disability retirement benefits. The Comptroller concluded the firefighter?s injury resulted from a risk inherent in the performance of his duties as a firefighter and disapproved his application for accidental disability retirement benefits. Matter of Campbell v DiNapoli

8. A 30-year veteran of the City of Yonkers Police Department applied for accidental disability retirement benefits alleging that he was permanently disabled as the result of an incident that occurred in January 1994 when he slipped on an exposed electrical cord that was placed next to a conduit and injured his back. Finding that the incident did not constitute an accident within the meaning of the Retirement and Social Security Law, the Comptroller rejected his application. Matter of Robinson v DiNapoli

For the full text of the decision posted on the Internet, click on the name of the case.

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on November 18, 2008 (boomark / email).