Mega Whopper
In a recent editorial, the editors of the San Jose Mercury News supported efforts of the San Jose City Council to “tweak” (the Mercury’s term) the provisions regarding disability retirement in Measure B, Chuck Reed’s flawed and failing pension reform initiative.
While agreeing that some tweaks needed to be made, and pointing out the Mercury News had in general said as much during the Measure B campaign, the editorial includes several other comments chiding the Measure B proponents for their inadequate performance as legislators on this topic.
The editorial stated –
*”It would have been far better to get this right the first time.”
*”The disability change in Measure B that tended to jump out in debates was that full disability retirement would not be granted if the officer could perform any job in the city – even if no job was available.”
*It’s a shame Reed and pension reform supporters didn’t put more thought into the wording of the disability portion of Measure B, so that it didn’t have to be fixed after the fact.”
To borrow a phrase from the Bard, methinks the Mercury doth protest too much. In other words, when they criticize Reed and company, they’re concealing their own responsibility.
In fact, the proponents of Measure B didn’t just draft pension reform language that could leave disabled cops and firefighters without a job and without a disability pension; they steadfastly denied they were doing so during the entire Measure B campaign. This deceit had to have been deliberate. The language in Measure B (see below) unquestionably indicates a severely injured police officer (for example) would receive no disability pension if he or she were physically able to perform some job in their department but the all the positions were already filled.
The Mercury News was aware of this deceit. Yet they never demanded that Reed and the others tell the truth nor did they inform the voters of the true effects of Measure B.
It is a shame the Mercury-News didn’t do its job, criticize those in power, and insist on an honest description of what Measure B would actually do at a time when that information could have been helpful to voters. Now, 18 months later, for those who remained silent when it counted to suddenly strongly chastise the duplicitous drafters and defenders of Measure B is a Mega-Whopper.
TEXT OF MEASURE B
Section 1509- A: DISABILITY RETIREMENTS
a) To receive any disability retirement benefit under any pension plan, City employees must be incapable of engaging in any gainful employment for the City, but not yet eligible to retire (in terms of age and years of service). The determination of qualification for a disability retirement shall be made regardless of whether there are other positions available at the time a determination is made.
b) An employee is considered “disabled” for purposes of qualifying for a disability retirement, if all of the following is met:
(i) An employee cannot do work that they did before; and
(ii) It is determined that
1) An employee in the Federated City Employees’ Retirement System cannot perform any other jobs described in the City’s classification plan because of his or her medical condition(s); or
2) An employee in the Police and Fire Department Retirement Plan cannot perform any other jobs described in the City’s classification plan in the employee’s department because of his or her medical condition(s); and
(iii) The employee’s disability has lasted or is expected to last for at least one year or to result in death.
c) Determinations of disability shall be made by an independent panel of medical experts, appointed by the City Council. The independent panel shall serve to make disability determinations for both plans. Employees and the City shall have a right of appeal to an Administrative Law Judge.
d) The City may provide matching funds to obtain long term disability insurance for employees who do not qualify for a disability retirement but incur long term reductions in compensation as a result of work related injuries.
e) The City shall not pay workers’ compensation benefits for disability on top of disability retirement benefits without an offset to the service connected disability retirement allowance to eliminate duplication of benefits for the same cause of disability, consistent with the current provisions in the Federated City Employees’ Retirement System.
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