Accidental disability retirement

Accidental disability retirement
Tuper v McCall, App. Div., 259 AD2d 941

Establishing eligibility for accidental disability retirement is not easy in New York State, as the Tuper case illustrates. State corrections officer Toni Tuper slipped on a wet floor while supervising a prison inmate mopping. She also fell on a stairway located in a building to which she was assigned, and later fell again while running with a medical bag to a medical emergency.

Tuper applied for accidental disability retirement benefits based on the injuries she sustained in each of these slips and falls. The state Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) denied her application on the grounds that none of the incidents she cited constituted accidents within the meaning of Retirement and Social Security Law (RSSL) Section 507-a(b)(3).

An accident under RSSL is an unexpected and unforeseen event whose occurrence is not the result of the ordinary, predictable risks inherent in one’s duties. For instance, a police patrol officer who is shot by a robber and is incapacitated probably would not be awarded accidental disability retirement because being exposed to gunfire is inherent risk of a patrol officer’s duty.

After exhausting her administrative remedies, Tuper sued, challenging the ultimate denial of her application by the then State Comptroller, H. Carl McCall. The Appellate Division sustained the Comptroller’s determination, noting that Tuper had failed to meet her burden of demonstrating that her disability was the result of a work-related accident.

As the Appellate Division pointed out, not every event that results in a work-related injury is an “accident” for the purposes of establishing eligibility for an accidental disability retirement allowance. In Lichenstein v Board of Trustees, 57 NY2d 1010, the Court of Appeals said that “[A]n injury that occurs without an unexpected event, as the result of activity undertaken in the performance of ordinary employment duties (considered in view of the particular employment in question) is not an accidental injury....”

In other words, if an employee is injured while he or she is performing his or her duties and the cause of the injury was not an “unexpected event,” -- that is, the injury was the result of an incident that could reasonably be anticipated or expected, considering the work being performed -- it is not an accident for the purposes of the Retirement and Social Security Law. In reviewing Tuper’s claims the Appellate Division addressed each of the events she claimed demonstrated her eligibility for accidental disability retirement benefits.

Tuper first contended that she was entitled to an accidental disability retirement allowance as the result of her slipping and falling on a wet floor while she was supervising a prison inmate mopping. The Appellate Division said that “inasmuch as a wet floor would ordinarily be anticipated in the context of [Tuper’s] supervision of the mopping detail, [the Comptroller] could rationally conclude that [Tuper’s] slip on the wet surface was not an accident ....”

Tuper fared no better with respect to her second basis for her claim. Here she contended that she had fallen on a stairway located in a building to which she was assigned. She alleged that the building had been condemned and the stairs moved up and down when in use. Tuper, however, was unable to attribute her fall to any of these defects and conceded that she was unsure of the exact cause of her fall. The court decided that under the circumstances, the Comptroller “could rationally conclude that [Tuper’s] petitioner’s fall was the result of her own misstep and did not constitute an accident....”

In her final effort, Tuper claimed that “while on light-duty status, [she] was directed to run with a medical bag to the scene of a medical emergency.” She fell while running. Again the Appellate Division sustained the Comptroller’s decision denying her accidental disability retirement benefits.

The court observed that the Comptroller “could rationally conclude that this third incident did not constitute an accident because the injury was the result of the risk of ‘exertional injury’ inherent in the activity which [Tuper] was expected to perform in the ordinary course of [Tuper’s] employment.”

As a correction officer member of the State’s Police and Firefighter Retirement System (PFRS), Tuper was eligible for disability retirement benefits pursuant to Section 507-a(b)(3). Other state and municipal employees are eligible for accidental disability retirement benefits under a different section -- Section 63 of the Retirement and Social Security Law. Section 63 provides for accidental disability retirement benefits for members of the State’s Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) who are disabled as a result of an “accidental injury” while performing official duties.

Section 363 provides similar benefits to police officers and firefighters who are members of the ERS.

Regardless of the statutory provision involved, courts use the same analysis to determine if a disability resulted from an accident for the purposes of determining eligibility for disability retirement.

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If you are interested in learning more about General Municipal Law §207-a or §207-c disability benefits and procedures please click here:
http://section207.blogspot.com/2010/03/v-behaviorurldefaultvml-o.html ============================================
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