COMPTROLLER'S AUDIT SHOWS ABUSE OF DISABILITY PAY AT COUNTY JAIL

From 2000 to 2004, an average of about 50 corrections officers a year at the Nassau County jail were on the disabled list with work-related injuries, receiving full pay and benefits, for periods from thirty days to eight years, according to a new audit of disability pay practices at the Correctional Center issued today by Comptroller Howard S. Weitzman.

The audit found that, as of February 2004, 23 of the officers had been on the disabled list for between two and eight years. In many cases the officers remained on leave despite a lack of independent medical confirmation of their conditions.

As a result of the audit, a follow-up to a 1998 report, the Sheriff's Department began in February 2004 to implement reforms to the state-mandated benefit program, which it says have resulted in 41 corrections officers returning to work who had been on disability leave.

Comptroller Weitzman said, "Fifty corrections officers out on extended medical leave - approximately 5 percent of the staff - is an unacceptably high number. Either the jail did not properly evaluate whether the officers were entitled to this benefit, or it did not have appropriate tools in place to lower the risk of work-related injuries."

Under New York law, municipalities are required to pay so-called "Section 207-c" benefits - including full wages, and all medical and hospital expenses - to correction officers if an injury or illness was incurred as a result of any job-related duty. In a 1998 audit, the Comptroller's Office had found that the Correctional Center was not effectively controlling the abuse of 207-c benefits and called for greater management oversight.

The new audit, covering the years 2002-2004, found that, until the advent of the new oversight program in February 2004, the Sheriff's Department had no effective program in place to monitor such disability leave, resulting in abuses by some corrections officers.

"We are pleased to note that the administration is now putting procedures and resources in place to remedy this situation," Comptroller Weitzman said. "In its response to this audit, the Sheriff's Department reports that it launched a "207-c Management Program" in February 2004 to correct the deficiencies the audit uncovered. Audits are meant to spur exactly these kind of corrective actions by the government. I welcome the reform efforts and look forward to reviewing the results in the future.

"Our county corrections officers generally do a fine job of protecting inmates and the public," the Comptroller said. "It's a dangerous job and often a thankless one. The lack of an effective monitoring program, however, permitted abuse by some corrections officers, adding significantly to the cost of running the Correctional Center."

Work-related disability leave cost the county approximately $3.8 million in 2002 and $3.4 million in 2003 in salary payments, according to department estimates. Fringe benefits, related medical costs, and resulting overtime costs, which are not included in the department's figures, would add significantly to these costs.

"This follow-up audit found that many of the same weaknesses identified in 1998 continued until 2004," Mr. Weitzman said. "In some cases, the department had not adequately documented the medical basis for granting the benefits in the first place. It also failed to send employees for independent medical examinations to determine their ability to return to work, contributing to substantial additional costs. In 2003, for instance, no independent medical exams were scheduled or conducted for 17 out of 23 of those who claimed to be too disabled to work."

Auditors found numerous cases of questionable claims that nevertheless resulted in long-term paid absences. In one case, a maintenance supervisor claimed he was injured in November 2000 when an inmate opened a door unexpectedly that he was about to enter. The prison's medical investigations unit initially denied the application for 207-c benefits. The decision was later reversed, but auditors found the case file contained no documentation explaining the reversal, nor who approved it. The employee was placed on the 30-day disabled list in March 2003 and has yet to return to work.

"It is appropriate that state law and county labor contracts should recognize the inherent dangers of law enforcement work with policies to protect officers' jobs and wages if they are injured in the course of their duties," Comptroller Weitzman said. "The 207-c law is meant to provide this kind of protection in the short term.

"In cases of serious long-term disability, however, correction officers may be granted accidental disability retirement by the New York State and Local Retirement System. The law was not meant to foster long-term medical leaves for individuals with unproven or undocumented disabilities. But in many cases, due to management neglect of the problem, this is exactly what occurred," he said.

Among the audit report's major findings:

• Independent medical examinations, confirming the nature and extent of disabilities claimed by the officers' physicians, were not performed regularly or on a timely basis.
  
• There was no protocol in place even prescribing when initial or follow-up examinations should be performed.
  
• Some claimants failed to appear for scheduled medical exams, but their benefits were continued anyway.
  
• In a random sample of cases studied during the audit period, the department's Medical Investigations Unit was found to have conducted home visits to officers on disability leave only sporadically, and performed surveillance rarely.
  
• The department's surgeons did not examine claimants assigned to restricted duty every 30 days, as required.
  

The complete audit report may be read and/or downloaded by clicking on the report title below.

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Corrective Action Plan (~150kB - 3 pages pdf file )

Examination of Nassau County Correctional Center’s Administration of Work Related Injury
Leave (~ 283kb, 47 pages, pdf file)