Paterson, Feds Probing LIRR Disability Payouts; Suspect Fix Was In
By ARI PAUL
Federal agents Sept. 24 collected documents pertaining to disability retirement applications from the Long Island Rail Road a day after Governor Paterson asked State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo and the Inspector General of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to probe the inordinately high number of approvals granted to LIRR retirees.

GOVERNOR PATERSON: Disturbed by approval rates.

Mr. Cuomo subsequently sent subpoenas to both LIRR and Federal Railroad Retirement Board officials seeking documents and testimony regarding the disability applications.

A New York Times article stated that 93 to 97 percent of the railroad's retirees since 2000 have received disability payments. The agents collected the information and took it to the Railroad Retirement Board, which administers the disability payments, for further investigation.

Paterson: Probe and Control

"I request that your office undertake a review of the operating practices of the LIRR in making work assignments to determine if the LIRR can, within existing work rules and union agreements, control these high payments, and make any recommendations you see fit based upon this review or similar reviews by your office in the past," Governor Paterson said Sept. 23 in a letter to MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger.

A statement from the Governor's Office said that many of the LIRR workers had not qualified as disabled when they retired.

"Since 2000, those records show, about a quarter of a billion dollars in Federal disability money has gone to former LIRR employees, including about 2,000 who retired during that time," the Times article said. "The LIRR's disability rate suggests it is one of the nation's most-dangerous places to work. Yet in four of the last five years, the railroad has won national awards for improving worker safety."

The investigative piece cited one retiree collecting disability payments while remaining an avid golfer, and it contrasted the rates of disability payments to the other MTA commuter railroad, Metro-North, indicating that the astronomical rate of approvals was outside the norm.

A Shocking Disparity

"[D]isabilities resulting from arthritis and rheumatism ... [f]rom 2001 through 2007, Metro-North had 32 cases, compared with 753 at the LIRR. In one year, Metro-North had just 2 cases. The LIRR had 118," the Times story reported. "For certain diseases of the musculoskeletal system, like a herniated disc, Metro-North had 49 cases. The LIRR had 850."

Work-related injury rates at the LIRR were similar to those or lower than those at Metro-North, New Jersey Transit and the commuter railroad in Philadelphia. However, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli in June called on the MTA to address high payouts due to worker and passenger personal injury and property damage cases at New York City Transit, Metro-North and the LIRR.

The Times also quoted LIRR and MTA officials in a July meeting addressing what they saw as abnormal levels of applications for disability pensions.

The discovery of the massive payments came one month after MTA Chairman Elliot Sander proposed a budget plan to reduce the agencies deficit through further fare hikes and union givebacks.

As part of the effort to curb expenses, the MTA Board voted Sept. 25 to start charging Police and Fire Department vehicles using E-Z Pass on MTA bridges and tunnels. Reports also surfaced last week that the MTA would institute service cuts as well.