A police officer [Petitioner] filed an application for accidental disability
retirement benefits alleging that he was permanently disabled due to injuries
sustained in an incident when he fell while engaged in a training exercise at
the police academy. His application was denied on the ground that the incident
did not constitute an accident within the meaning of Retirement and Social
Security Law §363. Following a hearing for re-determination, a Hearing Officer [HO]
denied the application, concluding that the incident occurred during a training
program that was an ordinary part of Petitioner's job duties and a normal risk
of those duties and, as such, was not an accident for purposes of accidental
disability retirement benefits.
The Comptroller sustained the HO's decision, adopting the HO's findings and
conclusions of law. Petitioner initiates a CPLR Article 78 proceeding challenging
the Comptroller's determination.
Noting that for purposes of the Retirement and Social Security Law an
accident is "defined as a sudden, fortuitous mischance, unexpected, out of
the ordinary, and injurious in impact", the Appellate Division explained
that under settled law, "an incident is not an accident within the meaning
of the Retirement and Social Security Law where the underlying injuries result
from an expected or foreseeable event arising during the performance of routine
employment duties or occur during the course of a training program
constituting an ordinary part of the employee's job duties and the normal
risks arising therefrom".
Further, said the Court, the petitioner has the
burden to establish that the event producing the injury was accidental in
nature, and the Comptroller's determination will be upheld where it is
supported by substantial evidence.
Here Petitioner was participating in a "simulated training exercise"
that required him to dismount from a moving bicycle and then run on foot to
chase an instructor acting as a fleeing "suspect." During the
exercise, Petitioner lost his balance and fell on his knee, causing injuries.
Further, Petitioner confirmed "the bicycle was not defective and that he did
not hit anything while riding the bicycle and did not slip or trip on anything
while attempting to dismount."
Noting that "Pursuing and subduing a fleeing suspect is an ordinary
employment duty of a police officer", the Appellate Division opined that
Petitioner's job duties included on-the-job training in law enforcement
techniques and Petitioner acknowledged that his duties as part of the unit to
which he was assigned included bicycle training.
Citing Matter of Marsala v New York State & Local Employees'
Retirement Sys., 14 AD3d 984, the Appellate Division observed that it
had "previously recognized in comparable scenarios, incidents in which
injuries are sustained while participating in a training exercise as part of
routine job duties and involving normal risks related thereto, including police
officers injured while practicing running dismounts during bicycle patrol
training, do not constitute accidents for purposes of eligibility for accidental
disability retirement benefits."
Finding that substantial evidence supported the Comptroller's determination,
the Appellate Division said "it will not be disturbed".
Click HERE to access the Appellate Division's
decision posted on the Internet.
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