The Long Island Rail Road has agreed to appoint an independent watchdog to curb disability pension-system abuses, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said yesterday.
A “disproportionately high” number — more than 90 percent — of workers retiring from the LIRR applied for and received occupational disability benefits from the federal Railroad Retirement Board on top of their LIRR pensions, Cuomo’s office found.
“Taxpayers and my office will not put up with a culture of entitlement and unchecked systemic abuses of disability benefits,” Cuomo said.
LIRR President Helene Williams said the railroad “has been doing everything in its power” to make sure disability payments “are reserved for those who truly deserve them.”
Williams said the independent examiner would review and possibly revise the LIRR’s ethics training program and the organization of its pension office.