Mayor urges disability pension denialSays bodybuilding firefighter abused system
By John C. Drake, Globe Staff
Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston called on the city's Retirement Board yesterday to deny a disability pension to a firefighter who competed in bodybuilding competitions after claiming to have suffered a career-ending fall at a firehouse.
The Boston Globe reported yesterday that firefighter Albert Arroyo finished eighth in a men's bodybuilding competition on May 3, six weeks after his doctor recommended to city officials that he be granted an accidental disability retirement because he was "totally and permanently disabled."
The case was reported as the Justice Department investigates allegations of broad abuse of disability pensions by firefighters.
"I was very surprised to see this incident, how brazen it was, in the face of all the other issues that have been brought up over the last several months," Menino said in a telephone interview.
"We can't allow abuse like this to ruin the department. We've got to come down hard on people who abuse the system."
Fire Commissioner Roderick J. Fraser Jr. told the Globe he learned of Arroyo's bodybuilding prowess in May and subsequently urged the Retirement Board to deny his application. Two weeks ago, the Fire Department shifted Arroyo from injured leave, which had provided him his full salary tax-free, to regular sick leave, which gives him taxable pay after ruling that any injury he suffered was not work-related, public records show.
The firefighters union, locked in a contentious contract dispute with Menino, has pushed back against charges that its members have abused the pension system. As part of the contract talks, the Menino administration is trying to remove a provision that allows firefighters to receive enhanced pensions if they report career-ending injuries while filling in for superiors.
Union president Edward J. Kelly did not return a phone call.
Sam Tyler, executive director of the business-funded Boston Municipal Research Bureau, said he was taken aback by news that a firefighter had made a claim for disability benefits while touting his physical fitness in competitions.
Tyler said Arroyo's case illustrates an "insular culture" within the Fire Department that promotes questionable injury claims.
"I'm slightly amazed that in a time when the US attorney is looking at this issue that anybody would take steps where they're much more visible in an active way that would question their fitness," Tyler said. "I don't know if that's just the culture that says this is OK and I don't need to worry about what the US attorney's doing, but I think it reinforces what has been known to be a problem.
"I hope it strengthens the call for real scrutiny on the part of the administration, as well as the state, on the whole disability retirement process, particularly for uniformed employees."
The Globe reported in January that injured firefighters have been on injured leave status for years while collecting full salaries, tax-free. Once the disability retirements are approved by the Retirement Board, retirees receive 72 percent of their salary, also tax-free. Tyler said the Retirement Board has now speeded up the process, under Fraser's urging.
In Arroyo's case, the Retirement Board last month asked the doctor who initially diagnosed him with total disability to reconsider his findings, in light of the firefighter's bodybuilding history.
"I would think the Retirement Board, with the facts that were shown to them, would not grant this guy a full disability," Menino said.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/07/15/mayor_urges_disability_pension_denial/
