Pensions and PTSD: Is it objectively reasonable?
CLOSING ARGUMENTS
The laws governing disability pension benefits
currently provide for benefiting members who
have been victimized by traumatic incidents or
who fall victim to disabling medical issues of nontraumatic origin. Importantly, members contribute
10 percent of their salaries each and every year,
which funds the pension system. An injured member can apply for a disability pension upon qualifiSTUART
cation and be awarded same, either at a
ALTERMAN traumatic/accidental level or an ordinary/medical
level. Members can be awarded an ordinary disability and/or medical pension, requiring that members show they
are totally and permanently disabled from the performance of
their ordinary duties. Such an award is not dependent on the cause of the injury, regardless of the
source of their disability. However, a separate
award exists for Accidental/Traumatic Disability
Pensions.
Police and Fire members work in a unique
area of employment. The uniqueness subjects
each member to increased risks of either physical and/or mental injury. The pension system
is rightfully built to accommodate those
members victimized by either physical
and/or mental injury occurring during
the performance of duties. Applying for,
and achieving, an Accidental Disability Pension can be particularly difficult, due to additional burdens of proving the work-related nature of the cause and
due to the filing-time limitations of such claims.
N.J.S.A. 43:16A-7 mandates that a member of the
Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS) is eligible
for accidental disability benefits only if: “The member is
permanently and totally disabled as a direct result of a traumatic
event occurring during, and as a result of, the performance of his
regular or assigned duties and that such disability was not the result
of the member’s willful negligence and t