 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
In re Appeal of Anderson11/14/2001
Manchester Retirement Board
(Board of Trustees of the City of Manchester Employees' Contributory Retirement System)
The petitioner, Marion Anderson, appeals the denial by the Board of Trustees of the City of Manchester Employees' Contributory Retirement System (retirement board) of her petition for disability pension retirement benefits. See Laws 1973, 218:7, IV; Laws 1973, 218:8, II (amended 1999). We reverse and remand.
The following facts are not disputed. The petitioner joined the city's employ as a school custodian on May 5, 1985. She suffered a work-related injury on September 9, 1992, and was found to be temporarily totally disabled for purposes of workers' compensation benefits. She was laid off as part of a department-wide layoff on July 1, 1994. In November 1998, she received a determination by the Social Security Administration that she was entitled to monthly disability benefits based upon a March 1997 date of disability.
The petitioner applied for disability pension benefits from the city on February 2, 1999, which the retirement board denied, concluding that she had failed to apply within sixty days of the termination date of her service as required by City of Manchester Employees' Contributory Retirement System Administrative Rule 2.4.1 (Rule 2.4.1). The retirement board denied the petitioner's request for reconsideration.
The petitioner argues that: (1) the administrative rule requiring a city employee injured in the course of employment to apply for disability pension benefits within sixty days of the termination of employment is arbitrary and unreasonable; and (2) the retirement board's adoption of that rule was ultra vires.
The City of Manchester Employees' Contributory Retirement System (retirement system) provides for the grant of disability retirement benefits under two circumstances. First, an employee who has been employed by the city for at least fifteen years may receive disability retirement benefits if she becomes totally disabled, whether injured on or off the job. See Laws 1973, 218:7, III. Second, an employee injured in the course of employment may receive disability retirement benefits regardless of the duration of her employment. See Laws 1973, 218:7, IV. The legislation provides, in pertinent part:
III. Any member of the retirement system who, after fifteen years of continuous service as an employee of the city of Manchester, shall be totally and permanently disabled, may be retired for disability according to the provisions of this act. . . . IV. If such total disability is shown to the satisfaction of the board to have been sustained during the performance of duties pertaining to his employment by the city, such member shall be entitled to retirement for disability irrespective of the duration of his employment. Laws 1973, 218:7, III, IV.
The retirement board enacted Rule 2.4.1 to govern applications for work-related disability benefits:
Work-related disability applications shall be considered by the Board only after the Work-related Disability Retirement Application Form and Attending Physician's Statement Form are both filed with the Board. These forms shall be filed with the Board while the Member is in service or within 60 days of the termination date of the Member's service.
Reading Laws 1973, 218:7, IV and Rule 2.4.1 together yields the following set of requirements in order to apply for work-related retirement benefits:
(1) the disability must have been sustained during the performance of the employee's employment-related duties; (2) the disability must be total and permanent; (3) the employee must apply for the benefits w
Page 1 2 New Hampshire Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|