City's Policy Of Reducing Retirement Benefits By Amount Of Workers' Compensation Received Did Not Violate ADA
Darryl Brown and Martin Whitfield were injured in the line of duty as officers of the City of Los Angeles Police Department (“LAPD”). They both applied for benefits under LAPD's disability retirement pension, which contains an offset: disability pension payments are reduced by the amount of any worker's compensation award the officer receives for the disabling injury. Brown and Martin contended that the offset amounts to disability discrimination. They sued the City alleging violations of (1) Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”), (2) California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), and (3) 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
The
district court granted the city’s motion for summary judgment. On appeal, the 9th
Circuit affirmed, holding that the
city's policy of reducing disability retirement
pension payments to former police officers by the amount of workers'
compensation awards they received was not "by reason of" the officers'
disabilities, and thus did not violate the ADA. The offset simply limited a type
of compensation for work-related injuries that happened to be available only to
individuals who were disabled. It merely pertained to the cause of the injury,
that is, whether it was sufficiently work-related that the officer received
workers' compensation benefits.
Brown v. City of Los
Angeles
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ jurisdiction includes California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Alaska and Hawaii.