New York State Disability Retirement System

[a citizen]

Cheeks, You make me laugh. I do not work for any politician. I just laugh at people who say the're conservative unless it concerns themselves. Then when its time for them to get the free cheese they are liberal as hell.
Please do not compare our troops with some guy who hit his head getting into a truck or some lady who slipped in the office. That's a sad comparison.
Try being like Goody, he sticks to his guns.

[a citizen]

Dr Smith and Dr Wesson. Top notch nureo surgeons.

Goody, out of respect for you I'll clean up the mess for free so no state worker has to come and clean up the gray matter.

[monkeyman]

cheeks, Did you make it to the back yard or did do your job on the rug?

lol lol...................

[Cgoodsp466]

Goody, out of respect for you I'll clean up the mess for free so no state worker has to come and clean up the gray matter.

Thanks Copper You seem to forget I like cops and Firemen and If you are former military even better.I will do it it in the woods or in the middle of LAKE Ontario. You know I did four Years in the Military then I moved on,kind of proud of the fact I did not need a guaranteed pay check. I know that there are two types of folks those who make there own luck and those that need a guarantee.
Like I said if you aint wearing a badge or driving a fire truck or killing hodgie I dont need ya. Semper Par!

[zinger]

Law is changed on family and medical leaves:

The rules on the Family and Medical leave Act have been rewritten. The new regulations, which went into effect Jan. 16, put a slightly greater burden on employees to inform an employer if they need time off and, if there’s a medical claim, to get a doctor to complete paper work. Many of the basics have not changed; a good example would be if you were six months pregnant and planning to take the 12 weeks of unpaid leave. You can take the time off and your job will be protected under the 1993 law. What is new is how the employee’s work time is counted for eligibility, increased flexibility for those serving in the military, new employee and employer notice requirements and revised rules on medical certification. Employees are required to give 30 days’ notice of expected family leave, such as a birth of a child, if there’s a unforeseeable situation, the employee needs to give as much notice as practicable. Employers have five days after an employee provides a notice of leave to request medical certification. From what I understand the single biggest problem is getting the forms completed. The forms are longer and more complicated, forms are on line to download and print. I will list some sites with more on the laws that have changed change. Most of the people that contact me have been in regards to military leaves.


>The new regulations create two types of military leave, “qualifying exigency” leave and “military caregiver” leave. The first type applies if the employee’s spouse, child or parent is called to active duty in the Military Reserves or National Guard. It does not apply to employees whose family member is in the regular Armed Services. This leave is designed to help employees prepare for the departure and return of a family member from active service




http://www.pselaw.com/FamilyLeaveAct.htm this is a very good site that breaks down some of the laws of the FLA

[Smiley]

Thanks zinger... that's a great site. I put it on my favorits...

[zinger]

COBRA for the laid-off employee:



A new subsidy that goes into effect March 1 could make health insurance more affordable for millions of laid off workers. The stimulus package just signed into law subsidizes 65% of their COBRA health insurance premiums for individuals laid off between Sept. 1 and the end of this year. Under COBRA, laid-off workers can continue their former employer’s health coverage for up to 18 months. In the past, though they were required to pay the entire premium, plus a 2% administrative fee-making COBRA unaffordable for most jobless workers. Average COBRA premiums exceed $400 a month for individuals, and more than $1,000 a month for families.
Employers now must notify former employees who are eligible for the new subsidy by March 1. laid-off employees who didn’t sign up for COBRA when they lost their job will have 60 days to enroll. Those employees who signed up and have been paying full premiums won’t get a rebate, but their payments will drop in March.
Employees who left voluntarily or retired are still eligible for COBRA, but not the subsidy of 65%. The subsidy is generous enough to attract healthy individuals too, who
would like to lower overall insurance costs because they’re less likely to file claims.

[Smiley]

COBRA for the laid-off employee:



A new subsidy that goes into effect March 1 could make health insurance more affordable for millions of laid off workers. The stimulus package just signed into law subsidizes 65% of their COBRA health insurance premiums for individuals laid off between Sept. 1 and the end of this year. Under COBRA, laid-off workers can continue their former employer’s health coverage for up to 18 months. In the past, though they were required to pay the entire premium, plus a 2% administrative fee-making COBRA unaffordable for most jobless workers. Average COBRA premiums exceed $400 a month for individuals, and more than $1,000 a month for families.
Employers now must notify former employees who are eligible for the new subsidy by March 1. laid-off employees who didn’t sign up for COBRA when they lost their job will have 60 days to enroll. Those employees who signed up and have been paying full premiums won’t get a rebate, but their payments will drop in March.
Employees who left voluntarily or retired are still eligible for COBRA, but not the subsidy of 65%. The subsidy is generous enough to attract healthy individuals too, who
would like to lower overall insurance costs because they’re less likely to file claims.

WOW... this maybe a better deal for employees. They will only pay 35% of the premium! Some of them pay up to 50% of the premium when they are working.

[zinger]

This is very important, if you have received SSD for work injuries and had to go back to work on a trial bases your payments continue during your period of 9 trail months while you are tested on your ability to work. You are not entitled to payments after this period because you are doing substantial work.

The next part is what happens after the trial work period. You get an extended period of eligibility that begins right after the trial work period. This is a 36 month period when SSD will restart payments for any month(s) your work is not substantial if your health problems still meet the SSD rules, this is called reinstatement.





If you feel that you cannot continue to work at a substantial work level or you will be of age to retire because your employer forced you back to work. Contact the SSA before you know what you are doing. Example would be if retiring because you can no longer do the job contact the SSA about two months before your date of retirement. So many people wait to the last minute and they think they will be reinstated overnight. You can also contact your attorney that handled your case for information.


www.ssa.gov





Remember the NYSRS does not recognize at SSD (federal) so if awarded SSD and awarded disability with NYSWC that means nothing to this system. So many injured and disabled have been discriminated by this system because of their failure to award injured workers their benefits.

[zinger]

Just to continue on about the cobra program from post #262


Like it was mentioned employees who retire or left voluntarily are ineligible for any subsidy. But if your employer determines that you’re ineligible and you disagree, you can now file an appeal with the dept. of labor. The labor department is now in the process of developing an application for appeals. You can find more information about the appeal process at the site that is listed. I have received a number of emails from employees that have wanted an appeal system and have wrote letters to the labor board and their area representative on this subject. So hopefully something good will come of this for the employee that feels that he has a case against his employer. www.dol.gov/cobra


With so many Americans out of work and with no health insurance for there families, there are some sites out there that you can check into that might be lower than cobra even with the subsidy. www.ehealthInsurance.com is a web site that allows consumers to shop for
individual policies for as little as $65.00a month, compared to $133 with the cobra subsidy according to this site. I really don’t know too much about the site or their insurance coverage I just wanted to pass this along.

How ever, if you have a pre-existing health condition such as diabetes, you’ll probably have a hard time qualifying for an individual policy. With cobra, you can’t be denied coverage because of health problems. Enrolling in cobra will also protect your ability to get insurance coverage in the future. Under the federal health Insurance portability and Accountability Act, insurers can’t deny you coverage after you’ve exhausted your eligibility for cobra. (That is very important) if you don’t enroll in cobra, then you give that right up. Some good advice would be enroll into cobra, then start shopping for a less expensive individual policy. If you let your cobra rights expire, insures don’t have to guarantee coverage. What would happen if you had even minor medical condition, they could refuse you medical coverage.

[zinger]

This was posted on another site and this person also sent this to myself. The person here is from out of state so you can see how the injured worker and disabled are seeking any kind of information on how to go about their cases. The internet has helped greatly in getting the right information out to the injured worker.


The wait time for an SSD case is still around 24 to 28 months for this area.



I just wanted to take the time and thank everyone whom has given me advise and support regarding appealing my 1st ssd decision, and letting me know that yes there is a hardship program, but you really have to show them very good reason not for you to wait until your case comes to review. I went to court yesterday and between the judge and the lawyer the only thing they had a concern was the actual date in which I became permenately disabled, they settled on the 1st day of surgery back in May of 08, I was so desperate if I had known that I would have said **** make it today I don't care I just need an income. The worse part is when the judge feels sorry for you and he is trying to explain that what developed from that surgery was a condition called arachnoiditis, non operatable and getting worse as time progresses.

But I don't want to think about that right now I just want to say thank you all again for your advise and support I truly appriciate it, this forum has saved my sanity from time to time and I will be here to help other with theirs.

All my love and god bless.

[zinger]

Gov. Paterson to push for expansion of COBRA jobless benefits for laid off employees at small business. Paterson is pushing legislation in Albany for the same benifit the COBRA plan offers to big business under the Federal Gov. plan for the subsidy of up to 65 percent on health insurance, for small business employees that are laid off. This is for small businesses with fewer than 20 employees. More information on this bill go to
www.ins.state.ny.us

[zinger]

If anyone is interested, there are interesting article 78 decisions on one of the disability attorneys www.fbrlaw.com go to the police disability section and read through the monthly newsletters. You will see how hard it is to get a 3/4 decision in your favor. It is a very good site it has many links on the right and left side of the home page. The news link has all kind of information on differant items wc changes etc. For injured workers that are going to apply
for nysr disability check out the links.

[cheekman]

That's not bad.

time off,what about for a bad headache hurting dog.

[zinger]

With so many e-mails in regards to the NYSRS –(disability) from injured and disabled workers that have been screwed by this system. I decided to send an email a few weeks ago to one of the biggest law firms in NYC that handle disability cases for injured workers that have filed claims with the NYSRS. Their reply to my email was fast, since I thought I would never hear from them.



“We received your email and I am unable to identify if you are a current client or not, but in any event, we do not disagree with you at all. My partner Milan Rada has filed many complaints and letters with legislators and with the comptroller, and always pigeon holes the comptroller whenever we see him about the terrible inequities in the system.

The standards for Comp and SSD ARE quite different though, and you really can't equate one with another. If you've never spoken with us about this claim call Carol Venezia However since you addressed your email to her, I get the notion that you have been here before...no matter, we are still glad to talk to you. But, yes, it is not a fair system at all.”


So the best thing for you to do about this broken system is continue to contact your local representatives on this matter. Politicians know how bad this system is and continue to do nothing about it. Most of you that live in WNY know who your reps are, but I been hearing from i-w from all over the state and encourage them to contact their representatives. The best way to find them go to the following site
http://www.state.ny.us/
Legislative
New York State Senate
New York State Assembly
New York State Congressional Delegation
On the home page you will go to this on the right side click on it and put in your zip code that will be your rep for your area. You can email them or fax your letter those are the two best options snail mail is the worst. Keep on these lazy politicians and let them do something besides continuing to screw this state up .