If you work for a public employer in New York, such as the state, a county, city, or town, then you may be entitled to a monthly disability pension benefit from the New York State Retirement System if you become "permanently incapacitated from performing the duties of your position."
Like Social Security Disability (“SSD”), but unlike workers compensation, whatever the cause, you may qualify for a disability pension if you are no longer able to work. If you are a law enforcement officer or employee, firefighter, teacher, court personnel etc, then you might be eligible for disability retirement benefits in addition to SSD and workers compensation benefits. The type of disability pension to which you are eligible depends on the date you joined, the job you held, and how you were injured. New York State and City employees are classified into tiers to determine benefits.
Each public retirement program has its own rules concerning your length of service, how the injury occurred, burden of proof, and filing deadlines. Most errors made by people applying for any type of disability benefits occur in the initial application process. You do not need an attorney to begin the application process, and that could save you an attorney fee. However, as with any disability benefit, the information you give in response to the forms the city and state require can make it difficult or impossible to win your case.
In general, you must apply while you are “in service,” which means that you are being paid on the payroll of the public employer or you are on an authorized medical leave of absence. For some types of benefits, your application is timely if you file it within a certain period of time after you were last on the payroll or your employment was terminated. You must describe all of your impairments on your application, or you may be barred from having the condition considered as part of the reason that you are unable to work
