Lawmakers, rail board address LIRR disability reforms

Alfonso A. Castillo

Oct. 10, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Federal lawmakers from New York met with members of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board Friday and hammered out a "consensus" for several reforms in the embattled agency, including possibly "re-evaluating" the legitimacy of Long Island Rail Road retirees currently receiving disability benefits, officials said.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Timothy Bishop (D-Southampton) met in Manhattan Friday morning with the retirement board's three members -- chairman Michael Schwartz, labor member V.M. Speakman Jr. and management member Jerome Kever -- and had a "very productive" discussion that resulted in tentative agreements for several significant changes, Schumer said. Many of those changes are focused on addressing the LIRR's high disability rates.

The retirement board, which grants pensions to railroad workers instead of Social Security, came under fire following reports that nearly all retired LIRR employees who applied for disability benefits in recent years received them.

Independent auditors have criticized the board for approving 98 percent of disability claims nationwide despite operating on "poor" or "insufficient" medical information. The board has called the inordinately high applications from LIRR retirees "anomalous."

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Newstex ID: KRTB-0134-28661765