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The Patriot Ledger

Last of a three-day series on disability pensions

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Carver officials are still smarting from the disability retirement of former police officer Bruce Pollitt. Selectmen voted to fire him based on what they said was evidence that he had faked a knee injury, but the county retirement board approved a disability pension for him because he has high blood pressure. Town Administrator Richard LaFond called it “the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen. ... These are the things that make us all cynical,”

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Pollitt said selectmen wanted to get rid of him because he was active in the police union. He vowed to fight his firing and after several months, he was allowed to resign after nearly 15 years as a police officer.
Normally, he would not have qualified for a pension. He wasn’t old enough and hadn’t been on the job long enough. But he qualified for an accidental disability pension under the state’s heart law, which says that heart disease and high blood pressure among police and firefighters is presumed to be job related.
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Considering the dangers and stress inherent to their jobs, it comes as little surprise that police and firefighters retire on accidental disability at a higher rate than any other category of public employee. But most of them aren’t retiring because they’ve been shot or burned or even because of a bad back. The majority of them qualify because they’ve got heart problems.

Should the state judge all heart conditions and high blood pressure among police and firefighters automatically as the result for pressure from their jobs?(surveys)

Retired police officer Bruce Pollitt has been collecting a tax-free $47,189 pension since 2002. He is 51 now and will continue to collect for the rest of his life. That pension has paid him more than $377,000 to date. If he lives to age 76, the average for U.S. males, your tax dollars will have paid him more than $1.5 million.

Dr. Robert Naparstek: Most claims legitimate.

Pollitt took advantage of the state’s heart law, which says that heart disease and high blood pressure experienced by police or firefighters is presumed by law to be job related, and that means they qualify for accidental disability pensions and lifetime health benefits.
   Massachusetts is among 20 states that recognize heart disease as occupational hazards of police and firefighters. Only six presume high blood pressure among police and firefighters to be job related.
   Firefighters are also covered by laws that presume several types of cancer and lung and breathing problems must by the result of their jobs and the risks they face from smoke and chemicals.
   Those presumptions are a live wire for any legislator or medical professional who feels the law should be rethought.
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OUR OPINION: It is indefensible that a police officer or firefighter can smoke, drink or eat to excess and then cash in on the resulting health problems with a tax-free pension.
Presumption laws, passed 49 years ago, deem any heart problem or high blood pressure experienced by a firefighter or police officer as job related and therefore it automatically qualifies them for a disability pension. Among firefighters, lung disease and many cancers also mean automatic qualification for such benefits.
While other public employees seeking disability pensions are required to prove a disability is job related and permanent, so-called “heart law” cases are processed without question.
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Here's where to find out more about public disability pensions.

Factoids

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.

Hypertension a major factor

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.

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.

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.

319 teachers

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

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.

$13,500 on Social Security

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

Private sector funds Social Security

Most private sector employees – about 55 million nationwide – rely on defined contribution retirement plans, in which they are responsible for managing their money and there is no guaranteed benefit, to supplement Social Security.

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.

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.