During the course of a public safety officer’s career, many uniformed employees become injured and disabled on the job. If a public safety officer is unable to continue his or her employment as a result of the injury, they are often left with no choice but to medically retire. The Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS), is the New Jersey public employee retirement system that services the vast majority of public safety officers in the state of New Jersey. PFRS offers two disability retirement pensions that have diverse entitlements based primarily on how the accident occurred that lead to the disabling injury. It is the Board of Trustees for PFRS that makes the determination of what type of disability pension an individual will qualify to receive. In this post, I will talk briefly about the two types of disability pensions and the benefits associated with each. In my next post, I will discuss the current state of the law as it pertains to accidental versus ordinary disability, and how the applicable pension standards are being interpreted by the Board of Trustees for PFRS and the New Jersey Courts.
ORDINARY DISABILITY
To qualify for Ordinary Disability retirement benefits a public safety officer must:
- be a member in service at the time the application is filed with the Division of Pensions and Benefits;
- have 4 or more years of New Jersey service credit in the pension system (the purchase of out-of-state, military, and U.S. government civilian service cannot be used to attain the 4 years); and
- be considered totally and permanently disabled (the member must prove that he or she is physically or mentally incapacitated from performing the normal or assigned job duties with no possibility for significant improvement).
Ordinary Disability Retirement benefits are not reduced by any Social Security or private insurance benefits that may be payable. However, any Workers’ Compensation award receive from the accident that may have caused the disability may be reduced, or receive a “setoff”.
Ordinary Disability retirement benefits are subject to federal tax to the same extent as other pensions.
ACCIDENTAL DISABILITY
To qualify for Accidental Disability retirement benefit,s a public safety officer must:
- be a member in service at the time the application is filed with the Division of Pensions and Benefits;
- be an active member of PFRS on the date the “traumatic event” occurred that caused the injury;
- be considered totally and permanently disabled as a direct result of a” traumatic event” that happened during and as a direct result of carrying out his or her regular or assigned job duties;
- file an application within five years of the date of the traumatic event; and
- be examined by physicians selected by PFRS. Said physicians must render an opinion that the member is totally and permanently disabled as a result of the “traumatic event”.
The definition of a "Traumatic Event" has been the subject of great debate and disagreement by the New Jersey courts. This definition will be discussed in more detail in my next post.
If a public safety officer qualifies for an Accidental Disability Retirement pension, the annual benefit will be 2/3 of the annual compensation on which pension contributions were being made at the time of retirement or the date of the traumatic event, whichever provides the higher benefit.
If the Public Safety Officer is receiving periodic Workers’ Compensation benefits, the Accidental Disability retirement benefits will be reduced dollar for dollar by the periodic benefits paid after the retirement date. The retirement benefit is not reduced by any Social Security or private insurance benefits that may be payable.
The Division of Pensions and Benefits reports Accidental Disability retirement benefits as exempt from federal income tax; and benefits are not subject to New Jersey State income tax until the age 65.
With the high occurrence of injury on the job, public safety officers and union leadership must make themselves familiar with the different retirement benefits in order to give proper guidance to their membership. It is often disability retirement benefits that injured public safety officers rely on to support their family members after they can no longer protect and serve.