A panel of Montgomery County Council members will begin contentious discussions today about how to reduce the alarming number of police retirees receiving hefty work-related disability payments, but union leaders say any changes to county policy require collective bargaining.
Last month, Tom Dagley, Montgomery’s Inspector General, released a study that found 62 percent of officers who retired in the past three years are receiving extra money for work-related disabilities. Roughly 3 percent of police and fire workers in Fairfax County receive similar payments.
The Examiner reported in August that one in four police officers due for a mandatory physical last year had skipped their exams, but that department heads were not disciplining officers who repeatedly missed appointments. Dagley’s report said one officer had not attended a county-mandated physical in 14 years, although the exams are required to determine fitness for duty.
Council Member Duchy Trachtenberg recently said she has “very serious concerns” about how Montgomery’s Occupational Medical Services, which handles physicals for some county workers, is functioning.
“There is an element of prevention that is probably not being explored,” Trachtenberg said. On Thursday morning, she will meet with OMS department heads to review ways to rein in work-related disability claims.
Marv Weinman, head of the Montgomery County Taxpayers League, hopes Trachtenberg and other council leaders will push for reforms, including denying officers the ability to claim disability if they are repeatedly skipping exams.
“There are things that could be done, legislation that could be written” Weinman said. “People play loose with the rules because nobody has ever seen them and they don’t really know what they are.”
Montgomery Council Vice President Phil Andrews is considering introducing legislation that would bar people who’ve committed felonies or been fired “for good cause” from receiving work-related disability payments and restrict people from coming back and filing for disability after they have retired.
Andrews also suggests the county consider a wellness program for police officers, similar to one currently in place for firefighters and emergency rescue personnel, that requires comprehensive annual physicals and can mandate targeted physical exercise for department workers.
Jane Milne, secretary for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35, said “retirement is a complex subject” and changes to county policy must be bargained with union leaders before they can be adopted.
