EXCLUSIVE: Union Leader—Review All Disability Pensions
Thursday, May 12, 2011
The head of the Providence firefighters union is calling for a review of all the disability pensions currently being paid out to retired firefighters.
Paul Doughty, President of Local 799 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, says it’s time the city clears the air once and for all.
He said the city should look into the records of every retiree on a disability—not just those who retired between 1990 and 2005, as Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare proposed earlier this week. Pare’s call for a massive probe into potential fraud and abuse came after a news report on John Sauro, a disabled Providence firefighter, who was caught on video weight lifting.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTDoughty said the city owes the exhaustive review to all the other retirees. “They deserve to have their name cleared, because they got painted with this big ‘Sauro’ brush that every disabled firefighter is a fraud,” Doughty said. “I think they owe it to them. Let’s clear the air once and for all so we’re not asking these questions again and again.”
Currently annual reviews.... from personal doctor
He said the city should bear the cost of paying doctors to review the records. Currently, retirees seeking a disability pension have to first see their own doctor, then submit to a review by three city-approved doctors. All three have to agree there is a disability in order for the Retirement Board to approve it. After a new 2008 ordinance, those on disabilities also have to submit to an annual medical review to confirm that they are still disabled—however, that review can be by their own personal doctor.
Doughty said he is calling for all “reasonable speed and measures” to carry out the investigation.
In all there are a total of roughly 300 retirees or their spouses in the Providence Fire Department who have disability pensions. That amounts to approximately half of all retired firefighters.
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