Page 24 - FOP JUNE Newsletter

Righteous termination
As some of you may know and have figured out, the Pension Board of Trustees has been taking a hard look at any and all disability cas- es. By state statue, the fund is mandated to bring in each person who is receiving a disabil- ity benefit throughout the year for an updat- ed medical evaluation. During my four years as your elected trustee, the Board
So now you may be asking, what has the Board of Trust- ees done with the cases where fraud was suspected? Sim- ple: The Board of Trustees through the funds attorney have turned these few cases over to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for review and/or criminal indict-
ment. It’s called pension fraud, which is a class 4 felo- ny. If a conviction results, the individual officer will
be stripped of receiving a pension.
On the same topic, I have received several re-
MIKE LAPPE
of Trustees has terminated the disabili- ty benefits of 46 individuals after medical testimo- ny was presented through the officer’s lawyer.
sponses to an article concerning officers who were denied a disability claim. One in particular was an officer who tripped in a hallway claiming perma- nently disabled from a sore knee – you would not think “permanent disability” if you saw the officer’s Facebook photos demonstrating quite the opposite. This person filed for an administrative circuit court review and lost. The court affirmed the Police Pension Board’s decision to
deny a duty disability claim.
Now this same officer, in the quest to collect a disabili-
ty benefit, has filed with an appellate court to rehear the facts of the case. (Note: Officers or citizens who file in this court can expect to pay between $8,000 and $10,000 when all is said and done.) Beware officers – I have seen other officers raising money on GoFundMe.com for their ap- peal for the same thing. d
Some have chosen to retire, some have returned
to work and a few have quit altogether, taking a refund
of their contributions. This can be translated into millions of dollars that you, the hard working officer who contrib- utes 9 percent of his or her weekly income, would have been paying for these individuals as business as usual. A few of these cases were out-and-out fraud.
Before I go any further, I want you to keep this in mind: This article is not meant for officers who truly need the disability benefit. Those who know me know I will roll out the red carpet as best I can to make the transition from the medical roll to the disability roll as smooth as possi- ble. The fiduciary responsibility that I have been entrust- ed with on your behalf leaves me having to make some very difficult decisions.
Pension Board
REPORT
24 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JUNE 2016