The New York Times is reporting that virtually every retired employee of the Long Island Railroad applies for and receives a disability pension. The disability pensions are issued by an obscure federal agency called the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board.
The scandal is compounded by obscene labor agreements that allow LIRR employees to retire with a pension at age 50, so they’ll be collecting those disability payments for a loooong time. There is also some crazy rule, according to the Times, that allows LIRR workers to collect 4 days of pay for 1 day of work, which resulted in 8 senior train engineers earning between $215,000 and $277,000 in 2006.
The Times article also includes this tidbit for its many readers who apparently haven’t heard that there is no free lunch: “While the federal government pays disability claims, a significant burden falls to taxpayers.”
So you mean when the government acts like Santa Claus, it’s really us taxpayers who are footing the bill? Do our Congressmen know about this?