Day 2 List of Stories

The Patriot Ledger

Second of a three-day series on disability pensions

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Quincy retirement board boss got disability pension 4 years after retiring

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George “Fred” McCray was well into his retirement after 32 years as a Quincy firefighter when he retired – again. More than four years after he maxed out his retirement benefits and began collecting an annual allowance of $65,271, he was approved for a disability pension. His new allowance of $65,416 isn’t much more than what he was already getting, but it’s worth a lot more. Unlike regular public-employee pensions, you don’t pay federal income taxes on disability pensions.

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On the second go-round, McCray got an accidental disability pension. They are for public employees permanently disabled doing their jobs, and nearly 11 percent of retired city and town workers in 26 South Shore communities are getting them.

Unlike most former firefighters, McCray was not deemed disabled because of a cardiovascular or lung problem. Four years after he retired, he was deemed permanently disabled because he’s hard of hearing, a condition he says was caused by the loud noises, including sirens and roaring fire trucks, that he encountered on the job.

McCray, who was 64 when he was judged hard of hearing, told The Patriot Ledger he does not wear hearing aids. But, he added, “I’m going to get them.”

The former fire captain knows more than most about the rules of public employee retirements. He’s been a member of the Quincy Retirement Board since 1984 and its chairman since 2002. He’s also a former president of an organization that opposes any effort to reduce public employee benefits and to under-fund pension plans.

MORE

Disgraced Quincy cop landed disability pension

Michael J. Cronin retired when he was 33, after a little more than 10 years on the Quincy police force. While the average pension for a retired city worker is $21,500, Cronin is collecting $56,296. He wasn’t old enough nor had he been on the job long enough to qualify for a normal pension. But after he resigned following a tumultuous decade as a police officer, he was approved for a tax-free accidental disability pension that will cost taxpayers well over $2 million if he lives to 76, the average for U.S. males.

It’s a case that still rankles some police officers and retirement officials, and one that illustrates how some public employees use the system to keep collecting for the rest of their lives.

Documents provided by the Quincy Retirement Board show that Cronin was examined by a doctor specializing in foot and ankle injuries on July 8, 2004, within days of his resignation from the force. A month earlier, he had been in an off-duty car accident in Quincy Point that injured three people, including himself. He was charged with drunken driving in that case but a judge declared a mistrial in 2005 when a jury failed to reach a verdict after nearly three days of deliberations.

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Here's where to find out more about public disability pensions.

Factoids

Pensions rise $360 per year

Public employee pensions in Massachusetts increase by a maximum of 3 percent on the first $12,000 of a retirement allowance each year. That’s $360 per year.

State Police: 27%

From June 2003 through June 2008, the rate of accidental disability retirements among State Police was 27 percent, or 90 out of 335 retirements.

Heart disease a top killer

Heart disease caused 45 percent of the deaths that occurred among U.S. firefighters while they are on duty between 1994 and 2004, according to a study from Harvard University. Heart disease caused 22 percent of the on-duty deaths among U.S. police officers during that same period.

Private sector numbers

Private sector employees contribute 6.2 percent of their gross pay to Social Security and their employers contribute another 6.2 percent. Self-employed workers contribute 12.4 percent.

10-year guarantee

Massachusetts has a defined benefit retirement program for its municipal, county and state workers. Public employees who work 10 years or more are guaranteed a retirement allowance consisting of a pension and at least a portion of what they paid into the system over the years plus interest, the annuity. They also get lifetime health benefits.

Paying into the system

Depending on when they were hired, public sector employees in Massachusetts contribute between 5 and 12 percent of their pay into the local or state retirement system. Since 1979, public employees have contributed at least 7 percent plus 2 percent on any earnings over $30,000. Since 1996, they’ve contributed at least 9 percent plus 2 percent on any earnings over $30,000.

Payments for Medicare

Both public and private sector employees in Massachusetts have 1.45% of their pay deducted for the Medicare portion of Social Security.

Social Security differs in Mass.

Massachusetts is one of the 15 states in which public employees don’t pay into Social Security and don’t collect it. People who contributed to Social Security while working in the private sector then went into the public sector, lose as much as 55 percent of their Social Security benefit if they are also collecting a public pension.

Workers pay 9% on average

The average state worker pays 9 percent of his or her salary and the state kicks in more than $1 billion per year to pay for about 12 percent of public employee retirement benefits. The remainder is paid for with pension fund returns.

Social Security disabilities

Social Security paid disability benefits to more than 9 million people in 2008, about 90 percent of them were considered disabled workers. Mental disorders was the diagnosis for about a third of the people considered unable to work.