Block Pension Spurs Board to Seek Review

Spurred by public outrage over a 40% boost in the pension awarded to the widow of former Sheriff Sherman Block, Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday directed county staff to revise the way the county decides which pensions should be increased for job-related disabilities.

The county’s pension board ruled that Block’s fatal bathtub fall in 1998 was work-related. County officials have dredged up other questionable examples involving loopholes in disability laws, including a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who won a tax-free disability retirement for hurting his wrist in a softball game.

The motion by Supervisors Gloria Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky calls for the county’s chief administrative, counsel’s and personnel offices to work with the pension fund to review the feasibility of moving older workers into less physically strenuous jobs, examine whether certain jobs should be classified as strenuous even when they involve desk work, and review laws regarding causation of disabilities and other issues.