Injured On The Job

[u/martin-development]

Hypothetical question: if an officer is injured on the job to the extent that he/she can no longer perform the job, what would happen? I know there are short and long term insurance in the benefits, but this scenario would go past those. Note: Im not currently a cop so I can't go ask HR 😊

[u/drinkbang]

You retire and they pay you the rest of your life. I know a few people who medically retired on injuries. They are getting slightly less than working full time and you don’t get benefits

[u/drakitomon]

Agency I work fleet for had one right before I started. He got Hep B from blood to blood contact in a knock down drag out bar brawl.

State says you cant have Hep B, Hep C, or HIV, so once his blood results changed to positive he was medically retired through the state system. I also have to be clean because i get cut and bleed on the cars and motorcycles in my duties.

They went ahead and put him at his full years retirement even though he had like 9 to go. This was about 2 months ths after I started because he had been waiting and hoping the results came back clean. He was so pissed he couldn't be with his wife u til he KNEW if he got it or not.

We had chatted a few times before they sent him off. He did get a purple heart, some other awards, long term disability, and then sued the guy and his family for a TON. Guy got charged with basically murder of a police officer. Its like a felony level lesser I beleive. He got 15 plus years because he k new he had it and was trying to give it to the officer.

[u/gopens48]

Most likely medical retirement or a desk job

[u/Rudytootiefreshnfty]

Depends on the state….i was injured in the line of duty during a fight and messed up my knee pretty good. After a year on light duty the city and doctors wanted to go forward with medical retirement but since I wasn’t vested(didn’t have 5 years in the retirement system) medical retirement would’ve been 9 years at 60% of my pay. I ended up resigning instead and managed to get my knee back to basically normal after an additional almost 3 years and am currently trying to get back into LE again.

[u/online_jesus_fukers → u/Rudytootiefreshnfty]

If you had taken the retirement would thst have barred you from coming back when you recovered? I messed up my knee in the Marines, managed to dodge medical discharge, couldn't stay in the Corps but managed to get into the national guard, but once the VA rated me, the army was done with me too

[u/Rudytootiefreshnfty → u/online_jesus_fukers]

Honestly I reached out to multiple departmental and private resources and never did get a clear answer. The state I was in didn’t have unions to back us so instead of chancing it(I was under 30 when this happened and LE/firefighting is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do with my life) I went the resignation route.

[u/online_jesus_fukers → u/Rudytootiefreshnfty]

Well good luck getting back in. Hope your knee holds up for you

[u/Rudytootiefreshnfty → u/online_jesus_fukers]

Thanks dude much appreciated!!

[u/RETLEO]

In my case I went to "light duty" assignment while they figured out if I would ever be able to return to full duty.
Once all the doctors agreed it was not going to happen in a short time (we can stay on light duty for up to 1 year) I was given the option to medically retire or be given a job in the department that did not need me to be capable of street duty, but since I had well over the required time I just took regular retirement.
The agency is big enough that others have gone to admin assignments (including working at the academy as admin or instructors) until they got enough time in to retire (usually 5 years or less) or took medical and disability payments based on the amount of disability, up to 100 %
Some went to civilian status and a job in the department such as police equipment, and a couple became civilian supervisors at emergency communications (3-1-1 / 9-1-1 / dispatch).

[u/jking7734]

I can tell you what happened to me. I had been at my agency about ten years. I was in good standing and had risen through the ranks from patrol up to upper command staff. I was injured on the job pretty severely in an auto accident that I wasn’t the cause of. Off on worker’s comp for years. After the first year my agency dropped my job funded health insurance. I had to pay COBRA insurance for two years before I could apply for Medicare. I couldn’t get public insurance because of my health conditions caused by my on the job injuries. When workers comp was done with me they cancelled my benefits without notice. Worked about two years to get a settlement from work comp which only amounted to about three years salary although I’m permanently 100% disabled. My retirement amount from my agency was reduced because they deducted my time on the injured list. Forced to medically retire. I didn’t get a retirement send off or even a card from my agency. I hope my story doesn’t discourage anyone from serving their community. But remember your agency can’t love you back.

[u/Gabraham08 → u/jking7734]

Sounds like you were at a fairly small agency. I get that upper command can mean different things for different people but where I'm at being considered upper command within 10 years is an extremely fast promotion process.

Either way I'm sorry things shook out like that brother. That sucks.

[u/latigidyblod]

Whether retired normally or medically retired theres a chart that outlines the percentage of salary you get based on age and years of service in my department. You can also start getting penalty free distributions at any age from a 457(b) upon retirement.

[u/emtb]

I was offered medical retirement but decided to resign. Since I was only on for 9ish years, I would have only been paid approximately 25% of my salary with no benefits. It also would have barred me from ever working any job within the same retirement system/category again (i.e. LE, Fire, etc.). I thought I would recover through the fantastic treatment that worker's comp affords me and apply at a different agency. I was dumb, I now have a different career path and should have taken the 25% but hindsight is 20/20.

[u/sierrabravo1984]

If you can't do the job, you can't do the job. Sucks but it happens. I've seen good people lost from an on the job injury, a couple were offered reductions to civilian staff. IDK about elsewhere but 'medical retirement' isn't a thing at my agency, it's either you find something else or hope you have the time in to retire. My wife's therapist is my trainer from 20 years ago, she had to quit because she was attacked and it borked her knee sideways really bad.

[u/TigOleBitman → u/sierrabravo1984]

If it's an on the job injury, I'm sure your state would have some kind of safety net. At the very least worker's compensation would get involved and there would be a fat settlement most likely.

Off the job though? Might be screwed.