Tool's Disability Outrage

Any Railroader who votes for Little Andy should have his head examined.

Sadly, there are no competitive statewide races this year and Junior will win without breaking a sweat

I was going to vote for Paladino, but he is so far behind he has no chance of winning
My vote for Governor this election will be Jimmy McMillian from the Rent is 2 damn high party

I will admit he has no chance of winning, but he can't be worse than our current clowns we have running Albany

Exhibit A -- Sheldon Silver who has singlehandly blocked any meaningful reform in Albany is running unopposed. He must go and we have no one to blame for ourselves if we want any meaningful reform in this State

I wonder what this topic is about....I feel confused about this disability outrage

What you won't read in Newsday or the New York Times from non-copyrighted labor source:


GAO Audit Gives Railroad Occupational Disability Program a Clean Bill of Health

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) just issued its second review of the Railroad Retirement Board Occupational Disability Program. And once again it found no problems.

“This was a major accomplishment for rail labor,” says TCU President Bob Scardelletti. “Occupational Disability is a vitally important program for members who need it. It’s the best in the country, and this Report will help keep it that way.”

The increased government attention on Occupational Disability began when New York politicians and newspapers began a full scale campaign targeting Long Island Rail Road workers’ alleged abuse of the program. After extensive scandalous press reports, public hearings, wild allegations, and a congressionally requested GAO investigation, no improprieties were found.

The Railroad Retirement Board did institute some oversight measures specific to Long Island Rail Road to make sure that no abuses were occurring, reflecting the fact that the rate of applications for occupational disability were higher than on any other railroad. But these oversight procedures wound up finding that all Long Island applications that were approved were properly reviewed, legitimate and in accordance with existing law and regulations. And that fact was endorsed by the first GAO audit of Long Island Rail Road claims in a report released in September, 2009.

Not satisfied with the GAO’s findings, two Congressman – John Mica of Florida and Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania – on March 18, 2009 formally requested the GAO to “conduct a systematic review of RRB’s occupational disability program”, not just limited to Long Island Rail Road.

The Congressmen’ request prompted yet another GAO review of the occupational disability program. In their just-issued response to the two Congressmen, the GAO reported they found no improprieties and made no recommendations.

“Once again efforts to find fault with the occupational disability have come up empty,” says President Scardelletti. “That’s because the program is functioning as it was intended – to be a last resort for rail workers who because of illness or injury can no longer perform their jobs. It is a necessary benefit and it is not abused by those who unfortunately must apply for it. We will continue to do everything in our power to preserve it as is.”

Sounds like some or more than a few still have railroad workers lined up in the scope and ready to pull the trigger. Can't satisfy these people especially when the system is working. Good find Tool.

Hi Tool ! For what it's worth, it would appear that the Railroad Occupational Disability Program is even better than a "clean bill" as my suspicion is that these politicians were looking for something to pounce on so as to aggrandize themselves. As the "findings" became harder and harder to find, they probably where willing to settle for anything, probably to a point of panic. We all know that you can make figures, graphs, percentages etc. tell any story that you want them to tell. I think that that was the plan. Cudos to the program for being above board, not penetrateable for exploitation, and giving the virtual finger to these pencil pushers.

Tool, How much did this cost the taxpayers of NYS?

The figures that were reported in the media for the 14+ NYS independent investigations were $17 million (Daily News) and $21 million (AP - NY Times). They were released prior to the two GAO investigations and the Congressional investigation. Those three would have been federally funded and the costs weren't mentioned in the reports.

Urrggh... Wa$te.

So what this is really saying is that LIRR management is either failing to enforce safety provisions to curtail disability causing injuries, is a total meat grinder of an employer, or that somehow the LIRR is harder to work for safely than most any other railroad in the US. I'm going to go with either of the first two. The last one seems statistically unlikely.

As a labor activist, what almost annoys me more than either the politicians assuming fraud or LIRR's apparent failure to keep the railroad as safe as possible for its employees, is that the Unions didn't take this opportunity to go on the offensive about the conditions that must be leading to this unusually high level of disability claims. The number one priority of a union should be that its members are returning home everyday in one piece. If the union leadership allows its members to be run through a meat grinder and then piled upon by politicians and the media with scurrilous claims, then maybe its time for new union leadership?

This has been covered elsewhere in this thread.

While LIRR is probably no less safe than other railroads, its employee death rate is among the highest. This is probably based more on operation density than anything else. The reason for its higher than average application rate for disability benefits is the LIRR early retirement age provided by contract.

The law provides no disability benefits to those who retire from other railroads at age 65. And you cannot apply for the benefit unless you are no longer working for a railroad. Only on the Long Island do employees sever their relationship with the railroad at age 50, making them eligible for disability benefits if their physical condition has deteriorated.

The media tried to make more out of this, but it is legislation, not abuse that drives the system.

By the way, employees hired after 1988 are generally ineligible for the Railroad Retirement disability, so it is a fading benefit.

very few workers retire wwhen they are 50, because RR retierment requires 30 years of service to be elligible for full benefits. This brings most employees well into their 50's if they want full benefits. ( I am not talking about the RR pension)
Another thing never mentioned is the disablity is not for life, it is until age 60, when normal RR retirement benefits would kick in for the person with 30 or more years service. So most are just getting their RR retirement benefits a few years earlier. I am speaking of people who retired unter the current benefits.

Dusting off this old thread due to this morning's events, as reported in the New York Times:

10 Arrested in $1 Billion L.I.R.R. Disability Scheme

Ten people, including a doctor and a former union president, were arrested early Thursday and charged in a major fraud scheme in which hundreds of Long Island Rail Road workers made false disability pension claims costing a federal agency an estimated $1 billion, according to people briefed on the matter. Another doctor charged in the case was being sought, the people said.

Most of the people — those charged in the case include seven former railroad workers accused of making false pension claims, the two doctors and a former federal railroad pension agency employee who helped the workers file the claims — were taken into custody in the early morning hours at their homes by F.B.I. agents and state investigators, the people said.

Here we go again!

More details of these arrests will be revealed in a press conference this afternoon.

Here's what Tool makes of this.

Seven employees were said to have been found performing tasks that directly contradicted the "disability" statements they made when they claimed they were disabled. While they may indeed possess debilitating medical conditions as defined by the law as it was in effect, they perhaps made claims that they could not perform certain tasks, like "walking for more than five minutes". They were awarded benefits as a basis of their medical ailments as well as their statements.

A portion of the Railroad Retirement law requires a annuitant, or beneficiary, to report any improvement in their medical condition or ability to perform physical activity that contradicts the statements they had provided.

It appears that those indited had violated this provision. They behavior and activities appear to contradict their claimed abilities.

Now if these annuitants will testify that they lied or mislead the Retirement Board with false statements and they claim their doctor or consultant had knowledge that they were lying, those individuals could also be criminally liable.

Virtually every disabled retiree has been examined by a Railroad Retirement Board doctor. Their physical disabilities have been confirmed by no less than two doctors, one chosen by the retiree and one chosen by the Board.

What these cases dispute is the "ability to do physical work," as stated by the annuitant and displayed to the investigators through their activities.