6
Disability Benefits
By M . M. M A N C H E ST E R
Executive Secretary
Public Employees Retirement System
Although state employes at the pres
ent time are better'informed than ever
before on their rights and benefits
under the State Employes Retirement
plan, there are still many misconcep
tions regarding this plan.
Disability Qualifications
One of the outstanding coverages in
the Oregon State Retirement .plan is
the disability coverage, and yet few
employes have acquainted themselves
with the disability provisions of the
act. An employe must have been em
ployed for five years in order to have
any disability coverage. Having been
employed for more than five years and
less than fifteen years, the employe-
member is covered for disability in
curred by injury on the job, while after
having been employed for fifteen years,
the employe-member is covered for
any disability on or off the job, if not
intentionally self-inflicted. The act
provides that no disability retirement,
annuity, or pension shall be made dur
ing the first 90-day period of incapacity
but at the end of such period shall be
paid retroactively. It is important to
realize that the period of employment
necessary to qualify for disability bene
fits is not only the period during which1
the employe has contributed to the Re-
tireihent System but also includes that
period for which he was allowed prior
service credit. Thus, an employe who
had fifteen years or more of prior
service credit was covered for disabil
ity on or off the job immediately upon
his having established membership in
the Retirement System.
The retirement law provides that
whenever an employe-member of the
system, who has been employed for a
sufficient period of time, is found, “ af
ter being examined by one or more
physicians selected by the Retirement
Board, to be mentally or physically in-*
capacitated for an extended and uncer
tain duration as determined by medical
examination, he shall receive a disabil
ity retirement . . .’’ It is of utmost
importance, therefore, that employe-
members realize that the date of dis
ability payments shall be largely de
termined by the date on which the
medical advisor of the Retirement
Board shall examine and find the
member to be disabled. An employe-
member who is forced to discontinue
his employment because of illness or
disability of an extended and uncer
tain duration should therefore immedi
ately apply for disability benefits by
obtaining forms from the Retirement
System. Undue delay in applying for
these forms will, in most • cases, lose
for the employe-member payments to
which he would have been entitled had
he applied at an earlier date. In many
cases it is not possible for the medical
examiner of the Retirement Board to
determine that an employe had been
disabled for an uncertain and indef
inite duration at a time many months
or weeks before the medical examina
tion was performed, although it is pos
sible for the medical adviser to state
that the disability was in effect at the
time of the examination.
It is to be realized that the disability
benefits of the Oregon State Retire
ment plan are not sick benefits, and an
employe who is absent from work be
cause of a cold or any minor illness
would not receive any disability pay
ments. The 90-day waiting period be
fore disability payments can commence
is to screen such temporary or casual
illnesses from cases where there is
actually a valid disability claim.
Optional Disability Payments
Upon retiring because of disability,
an employe, regardless of his contribu
tions to the system, is assured of a
minimum disability allowance on the
unmodified plan of $50.00 per month.
This allowance may be greater, de
pending on the employe’s age, his con
tributions to the system, and the num-