Disabled, Retired Officers Ordered To Return To Work Or Lose Their Pensions

itsbob

I bowl overhand
Makes sense to me. Our definitions of disabled have run amuck. Many disabled are deserving and can't work, but just as many are disableled but can.

No sense in paying them AND paying an able bodied person to a job they can do.
 

officeguy

Well-Known Member
North Chicago, IL – Eight former North Chicago police officers who retired on disability after being injured in the line of duty have been ordered to become 911 dispatchers for the department or face losing their pensions.

https://defensemaven.io/bluelivesma...YBGcExC4spRWW-9OPjYac-5kUsR0hqdAr2bdr0YRzjXRw

I am ok with that.

Some dispatchers are in wheelchairs, some have only one hand to type with. Former cop with hip replacement can dispatch. You are too disabled to climb fences and wrestle bad guys. You are not too disabled to sit at a workstation and talk on a radio. In fact this should be the standard position you get moved to if you are medically disqualified from serving in a police role. I bet it would cut police disability rolls in half.
 
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Hijinx

Well-Known Member
I don't know what makes a department think these guys can make good dispatchers.
It's something most of them aren't trained for, and if they are truly disabled I am pretty sure the sick leave will be a factor.

As we get older and disabled we go to the Doctors pretty often, add to that they don't want to be there anyway, and it's a problem.
Most disabilities are based on a percentage of disability.
Are they going to pay them their former salaries or the salaries a dispatcher might make, or try to get by with the percentage they make on disability?
Some of these men are still members of a Union. What has the Union got to say.
Perhaps the dispatchers have a Union, what will they have to say.
 
I don't know what makes a department think these guys can make good dispatchers.
It's something most of them aren't trained for, and if they are truly disabled I am pretty sure the sick leave will be a factor.
I thought this too. Add the negative attitude of being forced back, and you have a bad situation.

I can see asking for this is they are in the process or just about to retire. To ask someone who has already retired to come back or lose benefits.... I'd be heading to court. They retired in good faith based on the requirements at the time they retired. Changing it after-the-fact is just not cool.
 

Dakota

~~~~~~~
Some that know me may also know I was a cadet with the MSP in the mid 80's and due to a seizure, sent to work as a 911 dispatcher. It was apparent from my seizure history, at the time, that I was not suited to be a law enforcement officer. I was grateful to have a job. because I was not eligible to retire.

In this situation, I think that demand should have been made prior to any official retirement check being cut. The PD will not win this battle.
 

Yooper

Up. Identified. Lase. Fire. On the way.
This, was to me, the kicker:
The letter informed the retired officers that the department’s 911 center is “dramatically understaffed” due, in part, to an anticipated department consolidation.

As a result, employees have been leaving the agency to accept long-term opportunities with other departments.
As a result of a departmental decision the department is understaffed. So the "retired due to disability" officers have to help fix the problem the department created?

138982


138983


--- End of line (MCP)
 
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officeguy

Well-Known Member
They are just pissed that they now won't be able to continue to work their small town police gig in Florida or Tennessee.
 

nutz

Well-Known Member
This, was to me, the kicker:

As a result of a departmental decision the department is understaffed. So the "retired due to disability" officers have to help fix the problem the department created?
--- End of line (MCP)

Absolutely, the new status quo. I can do whatever I want unless you have a court order saying something else.
 

BernieP

Resident PIA
Some that know me may also know I was a cadet with the MSP in the mid 80's and due to a seizure, sent to work as a 911 dispatcher. It was apparent from my seizure history, at the time, that I was not suited to be a law enforcement officer. I was grateful to have a job. because I was not eligible to retire.

In this situation, I think that demand should have been made prior to any official retirement check being cut. The PD will not win this battle.
agreed, the government signed the contract and should be held to that contract unless the retiree wishes to waive their claim.
Knowing a few LEO, wear and tear on the body hits the point where they really can't perform as a patrol officer.
Why people think officers really want to have a physical confrontation with each encounter is beyond me, they end up paying a price for that as well.

But on the flip side I know guys who have a hearing loss (ever so slight) from their military service and they qualify for a disability payment.

I've also seen civilian employees of DoD subject to hazardous conditions, even injured and they are not given the same options.
They are told to go home and call their doctor.

Inequities exist, but we all agreed to the conditions (in some form). Can't retro actively change the compensation package
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
Some that know me may also know I was a cadet with the MSP in the mid 80's and due to a seizure, sent to work as a 911 dispatcher. It was apparent from my seizure history, at the time, that I was not suited to be a law enforcement officer. I was grateful to have a job. because I was not eligible to retire.

In this situation, I think that demand should have been made prior to any official retirement check being cut. The PD will not win this battle.
It's been done here, and worked.

My neighbor was one of them.. and what AMAZED me, is he had accrued enough leave and sick time while he wasn't working, that he took leave until his actual retirement came along. The PD called him back into work, he worked for maybe 2 or 3 days before he was back home hanging out again.

How the hell does somebody accrue sick and leave time while you aren't working and collecting a paycheck??
 

Dakota

~~~~~~~
How the hell does somebody accrue sick and leave time while you aren't working and collecting a paycheck??

Yep - that question has been asked so many times before but that is the government. They have been trying to base leave earnings on actual hours worked for years... of course the union puts a quick stop to any progress here.
 
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