A police office [Petitioner] filed applications for performance of duty and accidental disability retirement benefits in April 2019 based upon two separate incidents that occurred in August 2014 and January 2017, respectively.
The New York State and Local Retirement System [NYSLRS] initially denied the applications and Petitioner sought a hearing and a redetermination. Following a hearing, the Hearing Officer upheld the denials upon, among other grounds, Petitioner's failure to provide proper notice of an alleged disability as to both incidents. The New York State Comptroller upheld the Hearing Officer's decision and Petitioner initiated a CPLR Article 78 proceeding challenging the State Comptroller ruling.
The Appellate Division sustained the Comptroller determination noting that "To be eligible for performance of duty and accidental disability retirement benefits, petitioner was required to file written notice with respondent within 90 days after each of the incidents upon which his alleged disabilities are based; the notice must include the date, time and place of the occurrence and the nature of the injuries and the alleged disability.*
As to the 2014 incident, Petitioner testified at the hearing that he orally advised his supervisors of the incident immediately after it occurred but did not dispute that he failed to timely provide written notice of the incident as is required.
The Appellate Division said it agree that Petitioner has not demonstrated good cause for his failure in this regard so as to trigger an exception to the notice requirement.
With respect to the 2017 incident, Petitioner relied on the exception to the notice requirement applies because the accident and his related injuries are the subject of a Workers' Compensation claim. However, noted the Appellate Division, "... [Petitioner] did not file his written claim for workers' compensation benefits within the 30-day period provided by Workers' Compensation Law §18. And although "notice of the incident was filed with the Workers' Compensation Board, it was not filed in accordance with the provisions of Workers' Compensation Law §18, requiring that written notice be given to the employer within 30 days after the accident."
Also, the Appellate Division opined, the Workers' Compensation Board may have been justified in excusing this defect, "that decision is not binding upon [NYSLRS] and does not preclude the denial of [Petitioner's] retirement applications.
In any event, the Appellate Division said it agreed with NYSLRS that a "notation by [Petitioner's] employer on the report is insufficient to meet [Petitioner's] burden of proof and establish that he provided signed written notice setting forth the particulars of his accident and injury to his employer within the required time frame".
In the words of the court: "As [Petitioner] failed to establish that he complied with the applicable notice requirements for either incident, and given that he cannot avail himself of the exceptions thereto, his applications were properly denied".
* See Retirement and Social Security Law §§363[c][a]; 363-c[e][a]). The decision notes that Retirement and Social Security Law §§363 and 363-c provide exceptions to this notice requirement where, as is relevant here, notice of the accident has been filed "in accordance with the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Law or for "good cause shown as provided by [[NYSLRS's] rules and regulations" (Retirement and Social Security Law §§363[c][b]; 363-c[e][b]).
Click HERE to access the Appellate Division's decision posted on the Internet.