Seventeen years ago, Westchester Correction Officer Jesus Encarnacion injured his wrist slipping on lettuce at the county jail. He has worked just one day since then while being paid $1.2 million.

The county is finally getting him off the payroll now that Encarnacion has put in for retirement. But he is continuing his long battle with the state Comptroller's Office over its denial of a disability pension.
"It's not that I don't want to go back to work, it's that I can't," Encarnacion said. "I'm locked up in my house every day for doing nothing wrong but getting hurt on the job. ... All I want is what I'm entitled to. Nothing more, nothing less."
An investigation by The Journal News this year found that municipalities in the Lower Hudson Valley spent more than $160 million in salaries over the past decade for public safety employees while they were out on disability for job-related injuries. Encarnacion was one of a half-dozen employees in the region — including fellow Correction Officer Rocco Caldarola — who had been out for more than 15 years.
Justin Pruyne, deputy commissioner of the Department of Correction, said the Encarnacion and Caldarola cases were anomalies but that ultimately the county had little control over the state's decision on disability retirements.
"We make every effort to return (injured) officers and supervisors to the workforce in as quick a manner as appropriate ... or expedite their retirement," he said.
At 25 years of employment, Encarnacion last year became eligible for basic retirement benefits with a taxed pension of 50 percent of his final average salary. But for years he had hoped for a tax-free pension of 75 percent.
To get that, Encarnacion had to prove he was permanently disabled by an inmate's action — in his case, that an inmate tossed the lettuce. But while the state rejected that argument 13 years ago, its doctors have also consistently found that Encarnacion was not permanently disabled.
Encarnacion, 55, benefited from the state's position; the county tried three times to retire him on a 33 percent disability pension, which did not require inmate involvement. Remaining on the job kept him paid and his pension will be based not on a salary in the $60,000s that he had a decade ago but on one that rose last year to over $90,000.
The financial difference, however, between the service retirement and the 75 percent disability pension he sought is substantial. He will get about $40,000 to $45,000 a year, instead of a tax-free $70,000 a year. For every 10 years he lives, Encarnacion will make about $300,000 less than what he wanted.
While Encarnacion's doctor, Steven Small, has said for years he can't go back to work, a string of doctors for the state who conducted what Encarnacion considered cursory checkups said otherwise, with at least one suggesting that he was malingering.
But his bid for the more lucrative pension was most damaged by a 2001 denial after the Comptroller's Office determined the injury was not caused by an inmate. Encarnacion represented himself at a hearing challenging that, and the ruling was upheld.
At the time, injured officers did not have to prove an inmate acted intentionally. But neither Encarnacion nor his new lawyers ever appealed the denial. While they expressed an interest in doing so now, the current standard presents a much tougher burden. The retirement system and court rulings have more recently determined that an intentional act — like an inmate attacking an officer — is now required for the disability retirement.
On Sept. 18, 1997, Encarnacion was monitoring an eating area, where a can was placed at the bottom of the stairs for inmates to dump garbage. As Encarnacion went down the stairs, he slipped on some lettuce. Trying to catch himself, he got his right wrist wedged in a railing. He finished his shift, but by the time he got home his wrist had swelled severely.
He went to the hospital and eventually had two surgeries.
He returned in early 2004 because the county's doctor determined he could do light duty. Encarnacion reported on Jan. 23 and was assigned to visitors intake. He accidentally pushed a button with his bad hand. His arm grew sore and he went back to the emergency room — and he never returned to work.
Small diagnosed reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which involves swelling and nerve pain.
"We are not recommending any further treatment," the doctor wrote after an October 2006 checkup. "He is totally disabled and he is at home. I am following him on a monthly basis until this case is settled, which from the looks of it may take another 10 years or so."
Collecting a salary while not working was no picnic, Encarnacion said. During work hours he was confined to his Peekskill home, except for certain situations. When he did leave, he had to call the jail to let them know.
Investigators occasionally made unannounced visits. "They'd pull up, call from outside, I'd stick my head out, wave and they'd be off," he said. "This is not what I wanted. I wanted to work but couldn't."


Atta Boy!

$70 K TAX FREE for not being disabled. What a GREAT, GREAT day to live in NY!