advertisement

---

MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) employees have applied for disability pensions through the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board at an "alarmingly high rate" in recent years, agency officials say. So, LIRR and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials are taking steps to curb what they believe is an abuse of the U.S. railroad disability system. The federal agency currently approves 98 percent of all applications it receives nationwide from rail industry employees, LIRR said.

The agency plans to launch an ethics training program for all management and unionized employees that will focus on workers' obligation to be public servants and safeguard public funds, and comply with the law regarding eligibility requirements for federal disability pensions.

LIRR also will establish a new compliance unit to review all correspondence from the Railroad Retirement Board concerning applications for workers' occupational disability pensions to ensure that all relevant information is provided for the board when it reviews applications, the railroad said.

In addition, the agency plans to seek federal legislation that would require a comprehensive review of the existing statutory and regulatory framework covering occupational disability pensions by the retirement board. More stringent standards are needed to enable the board to weed out frivolous claims, as well as require the board to seek independent medical evaluation for those submitting disability claims and seek input from carriers on individual occupational disability applications, LIRR officials said.