High Court Eases County Disability Pension Rule

The state Supreme Court eased the way Thursday for county employees in California to obtain service-connected disability pensions, saying they must show only a “real and measurable” connection between their incapacity and their job.

The court rejected contentions by Los Angeles County officials that such employees should be required to show that their work was more than 50% of the cause of their disability.

In two 5-2 decisions, the justices said that the Legislature, in amending a state law in the wake of escalating county pension costs, meant only to assure that service-connected pensions were not awarded for a merely “infinitesimal” work-related contribution to disability.

‘Liberally Construed’

“Pension legislation must be liberally construed . . . with the object of protecting, in a proper case, the pensioner and his dependents against economic insecurity,” Justice Cruz Reynoso wrote for the majority. The court, however, did not specify how its “real and measurable” connection standard should be applied in future cases.

In dissent, Justice Malcolm M. Lucas said that the court was failing to carry out the Legislature’s intent to tighten pension-eligibility standards--and that at least it should require that work be more than 10% of the cause of disability.

Attorneys said the rulings could result in higher pension costs for 20 California counties--including Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego--where pension systems are regulated by the state law at issue. More than 200,000 county employees are covered under those systems and, according to lawyers, the decisions perhaps could affect thousands of cases involving service-related disability claims.

Assistant Los Angeles County Counsel Milton J. Litvin expressed concern that the rulings might not provide clear guidance for deciding eligibility for work-connected pensions--and said they could result in a rise in pension program costs.

“I’m not saying we’re going to go broke,” Litvin said, “but every dollar that goes into the pension system takes away from other worthwhile programs we need to finance.”

Figures on service-connected pensions in the county were not immediately available, but Litvin and other officials said they had risen steadily in recent years.

Costs May Rise

Lawyers for pension applicants in the case acknowledged that pension costs may rise but also pointed out that employees themselves pay premiums to support the pension system.

“This will lighten the burden of service-related disability pension applicants,” said attorney Steven Pingel of Los Angeles. “But it should be made clear that such pensions are not ‘free money’ or ‘giveaways’ for public employees.”

Service-connected disability pensions ordinarily provide disabled employees with payments equal to half their final salary on the job. Benefits not connected to work provide only up to one-third that salary.

The state law in question says that employees covered by the act are entitled to service-connected disability pensions when their incapacity is “a result” of injury or disease arising from the job.

Growing Concern

Concern began to grow among county officials after a state Court of Appeal ruled in 1976 that employees did not have to show that their disability was “the result” of their work and that pensions could be granted on a minimal connection between the job and incapacity.

Some trial courts subsequently held that even an “infinitesimal or inconsequential” work-related contribution was sufficient to win a service-related pension.

Authorities said that a sharp growth in work-related pension awards threatened the solvency of county pension systems--and urged the Legislature to take action.

In 1980, the lawmakers added an amendment to the statute saying that the job must “contribute substantially” to the disability to warrant awarding a service-connected pension.

Anxiety, Depression

Thursday’s rulings came in the cases of Thomas Bowen, a former Los Angeles County stenographer and eligibility worker who retired after suffering a heart attack and symptoms of anxiety, depression and alcohol abuse, and Angelita Hoffman, a former clerk for the county who retired after suffering from hypertension, diabetes, depression and chronic anxiety.

The Los Angeles County Board of Retirement denied their claims for service-related benefits and instead granted lower pensions unrelated to work. The denials were upheld in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The justices, in ordering the lower court to reconsider the rulings, said that the Legislature’s amendments were intended to clarify the law by rejecting the interpretation of the appellate court in 1976--but did not establish a strict new standard.

‘Substantial Evidence’

Reynoso, in an opinion joined by Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird and Justices Stanley Mosk, Allen E. Broussard and Joseph R. Grodin, said that even though the job and disability might be only a “small part” of the cause of disability, service-connected pensions could be awarded where there was “substantial evidence of a real and measurable connection” between work and incapacity.