By: Elliott Andalman and Michelle Amick Prikhodko
The Maryland State Retirement System (SRS) provides its eligible employees with a disability retirement annuity in the event that the employee becomes seriously ill or injured and is unable to perform their job duties.
Generally, the State of Maryland provides benefits for two types of disability retirements: (1) ordinary disability retirement; and (2) accidental disability retirement.
The two systems can be differentiated primarily on three bases, (1) service requirements; (2) the amount of annuity; and (3) eligibility requirements.
Service Requirements
Ordinary disability benefits require at least 5 years of service by the employee. There is no service requirement to be eligible for accidental disability retirement benefits.
Amount of Annuity
Accidental disability retirement provides a larger annuity for recipients and the recipient will receive that annuity for life. Ordinary disability retirement, on the other hand, provides for lower annuity payments, and those benefits will last only until age 65.
Eligibility
In order to be eligible for ordinary disability retirement, the employee must only prove that they are permanently disabled to perform their job due to illness or injury.
The requirements for becoming eligible for accidental disability retirement are more complex. Specifically, the regulations require that in order to be eligible for accidental disability retirement benefits, the member must be “totally and permanently incapacitated for duty as the natural and proximate result of an accident that occurred in the actual performance of duty at a definite time and place without willful negligence by the member.”[1]
Employees who are disabled from an accident at work may apply for both ordinary and accidental disability benefits. Accidental disability retirement is more difficult to win. Many applicants can establish disability, but cannot establish that the disability is the “natural and proximate cause” of a work accident. The SRS will often send applicants for accidental disability retirement benefits to an “Independent Medical Examination” (IME), where a physician selected and paid for by the state will evaluate their injury and render an opinion as to whether the disability was a result of the work accident or other pre-existing conditions.
Contacting an experienced attorney prior to filing your application can improve your chances for winning a claim for state disability retirement benefits. An experienced attorney can assist in completing and processing your application and in obtaining medical and vocational evidence necessary to prove your disability claim. If you wish to speak with Andalman & Flynn about State Disability Retirement, you can contact our office for a free disability consultation by calling (301) 563-6685 or toll-free at 1-888-558-7871, or please contact us online and one of our trained professionals will contact you to discuss your State Disability Retirement Claim.
