If you’ve worked at your job for any length of time in California, you probably think you deserve your disability pension. Some companies and businesses will fight your disability pension claims, though, especially if you’ve been fired, like in this case. According to the news, a fired Dickson City police officer has lost his fight for a disability pension that he claimed was wrongfully denied.
According to the March 19 report, the former police officer had been fired when he was charged with killing a deer outside of the legal hunting season. He was also charged with committing insurance fraud. Now, he has lost the battle to get his disability pension, which would have given him around $39,000 per year for the rest of his life.
The report claims that the case started in 2010 when the man filed a grievance with his union. He claimed he was improperly denied a disability pension for injuries he suffered on the job in 2008. The borough had denied the claim, reporting that the man hadn’t presented documentation of the disability.
While that case was ongoing, he was fired as an officer in 2011. He had been accused of insurance fraud for having a gun he reported destroyed and for killing a deer with it. Both charges of killing the deer illegally and having the gun due to insurance fraud landed him a sentence of two to 18 months in prison. Despite this, he argued that he still deserved the pension, since he had been injured in 2008.
The ruling that denies the claim allows the police borough to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in the future, but it’s not clear what would have happened if the case had actually been argued in court. According to the news, the grievance against the police borough was actually discharged on technical grounds, since the man didn’t pursue a timely resolution to his dispute.
Source: The Times-Tribune, “Fired Dickson City cop loses fight for disability pension” Terriemorgan-Besecker, Mar. 19, 2014