Cronin gd 072304-1.jpg | Disability Pensions

Factoids

$13,500 on Social Security

The average annual benefit to people collecting disability through Social Security was about $13,500 in 2008.

6.9 percent

Statewide in 2008, 12,933 of the 186,700 retired public employees, including city, town and state workers and teachers, received accidental disability benefits. That’s 6.9 percent.

About 75 percent of U.S. police, firefighters and EMTs prehypertension or hypertension, according to a 2008 study published in the American Journal of Hypertension. The study attributed the numbers to several factors including the physical and emotional stresses of the job and obesity rates.

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.

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.

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.

Numbers flip-flop

In 1983, 62 percent of American workers were covered by a defined benefit retirement plan and 12 percent had defined contribution plans. By 2007, the numbers had flip- flopped, with 17 percent covered by defined benefit and 63 percent by defined contribution plans.

319 teachers

As of May, 319 of the 52,508 retired teachers statewide were on accidental disability, or 0.6 percent.

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.

10 of 39 in Quincy

In Quincy, from June 2003 through June 2008, the rate for police was 26 percent – 10 out of 39 officers retired on accidental disability.