Public Employee Disability Retirement
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Accidental Disability Retirement. In order to receive accidental disability benefits, a public employee must establish that he is totally and permanently incapacitated from performing all of his duties as a result of an injury sustained or hazard undergone while in the performance of his duties.
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Ordinary Disability Retirement. When the retiree's disability is not the result of a work-related accident, the retiree receives an "ordinary disability" retirement allowance that becomes effective on the date of retirement.
Public Employee Retirement
The retirement benefits of state, county, and municipal employees are governed by a comprehensive statutory and regulatory scheme. There are hundreds of retirement systems each of which has its own board and the board is responsible for managing the retirement system and granting benefits to employees. The individual systems are overseen by the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC). Employees aggrieved by unfavorable decisions can appeal to the Division of Administrative Law Appeals (DALA) which is the trial arm of the Contributory Retirement Appeals Board (CRAB).
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There are a variety of disputes related to public employee retirement benefits. For example, there are disputes about creditable service, disputes over whether certain remuneration is regular compensation, pension forfeiture disputes and disputes over employment status. Our firm represents employees in these disputes before DALA and CRAB and in court.