What Do You Think: Was Terminated Worker Entitled to Disability Benefit?

Chicago, IL (WorkersCompensation.com) – In many cases, when an employee’s time at a job, benefits that came with the job cease as well.

However, that’s not always the case, and as a scenario in Illinois recently showed, statutory interpretation could be involved.

A worker for an Illinois county was a participant in the county’s benefit fund, through which the county transferred a portion of the worker’s salary each month as his employee contribution. While working for the county, the worker was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Although the worker continued to work with accommodations, his health declined as his disease progressed. After exhausting his paid leave, the worker applied for an ordinary disability benefit with the fund’s board of trustees. The board granted the benefit in the amount of 50 percent of his salary.

While the worker was receiving benefit payments, the county requested medical documentation indicating his expected return-to-work date, eventually extending the deadline for the worker to provide it. After the deadline passed, the county terminated the worker and stopped paying the benefit.

The worker sued, alleging that the county violated the state’s pension code. The court dismissed the claim, concluding that the pension code did not support the payment of disability benefits to a person no longer employed by the county.

On appeal, the appellate court reversed, holding that the worker had a contractual right to the entirety of his disability benefit. The county and board appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.

The Illinois Constitution provides that membership in a pension or retirement system is an enforceable contractual relationship, “the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.” Additionally, the pension code details that benefits terminate when an employee’s disability ceases or when the employee reaches age 65 or 70, depending on the circumstances surrounding when the disability commenced.

Was the worker entitled to benefits?

A. Yes. Once allowed, the disability benefit continued until the disability ceased or the worker reached termination age.

B. No. The worker was a former employee, and so the pension code did not apply to him.

If you went with A, you sided with the court in O’Connell v. County of Cook, Nos. 127527, 127594 (Ill. 05/19/22), which ruled in the worker’s favor. According to the court, the worker’s status as an employee and contributor, along with his disability, was determined at the time of his initial application. The court explained that the triggering events that would halt the disability benefit did not include termination.

According to the court, the worker became entitled to the benefit “when he initially applied, as an employee who became disabled after becoming a contributor to the fund,” and his termination did not eliminate that entitlement.

This feature does not provide legal advice.

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