Call the Centers for Disease Control! There must be an epidemic of carpal tunnel syndrome in Montgomery County.
That’s the only thing that explains why more than half of all police officers retiring there during the last three years are on disability.
This is in a county whose police chief, Tom Manger, brags has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.
Are taxpayers supposed to believe that more than a third of county police officers, firefighters, sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers are permanently injured in the line of duty — compared with just 3 percent of their peers in Fairfax County? Or that 10 percent more Montgomery safety personnel are hurt on the job than in neighboring Prince George’s County, which has a much higher crime rate?
Even County Executive Ike Leggett isn’t buying it. He’s ordered a long-overdue look at the county’s retirement disability system in anticipation of a report from the inspector general’s office scheduled for release early next month.
A disabled employee stands to collect $100,000 more in benefits during retirement in addition to a generous pension, so there’s a financial incentive to hop on board the disability gravy train. While there’s no question that employees who suffer legitimate injuries on the job should be taken care of, the ridiculously high percentage of claims — particularly in the police department — indicates a lot of freeloaders on the rolls.
County Council Public Safety Committee Chairman Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg, agrees this “doesn’t make sense,” adding that the problem may stem from an “effects bargaining” law enacted in the 1980s that applies only to the police department, which basically allows the police union to veto reforms, such as squad car video cameras. The law, Andrews told The Examiner, may have to be repealed.
Last year, Montgomery County paid out $147 million in total pension benefits — with $35 million for disability payments alone. Either safety standards in Maryland’s largest county are abysmally low, or employees are gaming the system. A 2006 inspector general report recommended that all disability payments be taken out of each county agency’s budget and that safety be added as a performance measure for all supervisors. The idea was that most on-the-job injuries are preventable if managers are held responsible for the safety of their subordinates.
Judging by the out-of-whack disability statistics, it’s doubtful these excellent recommendations have been implemented in the police department. But they obviously should be. And is anybody looking over the shoulders of those who provide certification of medical disability?
