[quote=Veritas]
… “a 2004 investigative report by the Sacramento Bee found that among retired members of the California Highway Patrol, 66% of the rank and file officers, and 82% of the chiefs retired with service disabilities. Similarly, a 2006 investigative report by the San Jose Mercury found that two-thirds of San Jose Firefighters retired with service disabilities.”
No one is saying the work is easy and that the employees in high risk careers should not be fairly compensated, but the City Council and the Board of Supervisors should ensure that the tax payers are not being victimized by the Unions and Associations that represent the employees, lest the voters lose faith in their ability to do the job responsibly and fairly.[/quote]
Yes, this is a little-covered oft-used scam. I have a friend on one of the local pension boards and he said it is standard operating procedure to retire and then immediately file for disability. It’s just part of the game – completely normal and expected. He and the other board members spend a huge amount of time either granting or denying disability status. My friend told me that the rate of disability claims among retired public employees is well over 10x that in the private sector, but I haven’t looked into it myself.
