Brecher Fishman Pasternack Heller Walsh & Tilker, P.C.

Personal Injury
Workers Compensation
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Social Security Disability
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State & Municipal Disability
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If you are a Public Employee working for a Municipality and have recently retired, plan to retire or due to an injury or illness believe you are no longer able to perform your job duties, you may be entitled to a Disability Pension from the New York City or State and Local Retirement Systems. Some of the different types of applications for benefits that can be filed are known as Accidental, Performance of Duty and Ordinary Disability Retirement. Some are also known as Article 14 and Article 15 Disability Retirement. All types have specific rules, requirements and strict filing time limits.

Your "Tier" determines the type of application and amount of Disability Pension benefits available to you. Your "Tier" is the date you last joined or rejoined a retirement system. Other factors in determining your benefits and type of application are the type of injury or illness, how and where it occurred and your total years of creditable service.

To qualify for a Disability Pension, you must prove that you are permanently disabled to perform your job duties. In many instances you must also prove that your injury is the result of an on the job "Accident." If you must prove this, it is very important to describe the incident with enough detail to satisfy the requirements for your type of Pension benefit. This is a deceptively complicated area of the law and, therefore, we recommend anyone interested in filing for these benefits contact us immediately.