By Maria Cramer
Boston Globe
BOSTON — At a time when Boston police are letting go of cadets and considering the layoffs of uniformed officers, the department is paying full, tax-free salaries to 21 sergeants, detectives, and patrol officers who are on extended injured leave and not expected to return.
One 51-year-old sergeant has been out for nine years. A 49-year-old detective has been out for nearly six. Six of the officers have been out for three to five years, according to a Globe review.
Taxpayers are footing the bill not only for their $1.7 million in salaries, but for the extra overtime doled out to officers who must fill in for the missing employees.
Police officials, who are trying to cut down on a bloated overtime budget and save as many jobs as possible, acknowledge that they need to get these officers off the department’s payroll, but said they are caught up in the slow bureaucracy of the early retirement process.
“When you’re in a situation where you’re looking to lay off officers who are out on the streets working every day, it becomes more urgent,” said Commissioner Edward F. Davis. “Making sure that we get our paperwork in order to push the process more quickly is a priority of ours.”
Only one of the officers, a 50-year-old detective who has been on leave for four years, has been approved for retirement. He will come off the department’s payroll on March 31, according to police. Nine injured officers whom the department does not expect to return have been waiting at least one year since submitting an application for retirement - including one who has waited almost four years.
Moving an injured officer off the public payroll and into the retirement system involves three agencies and at least three scenarios for delays.
First, it is the Police Department’s responsibility to keep track of officers who are out on injured leave and push them to apply for early retirement if it appears they will not be able to return. If they refuse, the department can initiate an involuntary retirement. In the past, the department has acknowledged, it was not always vigilant in monitoring the status of its injured officers but has redoubled its efforts over the past three years.
The officer then applies to the city retirement board, which must process the application before sending it on to the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission, which is charged with overseeing local boards. The commission then will set up independent exams by three doctors to verify the officer’s claims. The application then goes back to the city board for a review by a hearing officer, who recommends whether to approve the case. The city then votes on the application, and if it is approved, sends it back to the commission for its approval.
The slow pace of the retirement system, particularly the city retirement board, has long been a source of frustration for department heads and taxpayer groups. But with the Police Department facing a roughly $25 million budget gap, that frustration is turning into desperation.
Some fiscal watchdogs say Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who is asking unions to accept a wage freeze to save jobs, should exert similar pressure on the board to act more quickly. The mayor does not control the board, but appoints one of its five members.
“You’re talking about laying people off at the same time you’ve got people injured doing nothing, tax free,” said Jeffrey W. Conley, executive director of the Boston Finance Commission. “It should be in the interest of the administration to take whatever steps it needs to take to retire people who will not be coming back to work.”
Dot Joyce, Menino’s spokeswoman, said the board has undergone a shake-up in the last year. Last August, the board’s executive officer stepped down amid complaints about lengthy delays in reviewing Boston firefighter disability pension claims.
“We’ve always wanted [applications] to be processed as quickly as possible,” Joyce said. “It doesn’t take a fiscal crisis to want things done more quickly.”
Kathleen Kiely-Becchetti, the board’s interim executive director, said there are now five people processing applications, up from three last summer. The list of pending applications from city employees has been cut from more than 300 in August to about 180, she said. The board has invested in a $12 million computer database that will organize applications and make it easier to keep track of them, Kiely-Becchetti said.
The new computer database will replace the current 20-year-old one that requires manual handling of data. The database handles not only disability claims, but all retirement claims from city workers.
Police officials said the department has been more aggressive about pushing officers on extended injured and sick leave to apply for early retirement. Three years ago, there were 32 officers still receiving pay while they waited for their application to be processed. Currently, there are 26. Twenty-one are on extended injured leave, while five are on sick leave.
Police said the city’s retirement board has acted more quickly on applications as department officials have become more aggressive about getting permanently injured officers off the payroll.
Patricia Skeen, 58, a patrolwoman, has been on leave since January 2007 for a foot injury she suffered when she slipped and fell on wet pavement in 2005. She filed her retirement papers last April. About a week ago, she received a letter telling her the application was being processed. Skeen said it was the first communication she had received since filing her application; she expects to meet with the state-appointed doctors in April or May.
“It’s all in their hands,” she said. “I did what I was supposed to do. ... As far as time frames, I’ve been told I was pretty lucky that I heard from them as soon as I did. I’ve heard of some people who waited three or four years, and some longer than that.”
Samuel R. Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, said the Legislature, which is under pressure to reform the pension system, should also look for ways to streamline the application process.
“Time is money for cities and towns now,” he said. “The longer you wait, the more expensive it gets to be.”
Copyright 2009 Boston Globe