(The following story by Michael M. Grynbaum appeared on the New York Times website on October 9, 2009.)
NEW YORK — A federal retirement agency approved nearly 100 percent of disability claims filed by workers for the Long Island Rail Road even after enacting changes meant to address chronic abuse of the public benefits system, a government review has found.
The agency, the Railroad Retirement Board, which is the equivalent of Social Security for railroad workers, said last October that it would use greater oversight to examine claims filed by L.I.R.R. employees after reports in The New York Times that virtually every career L.I.R.R. employee applied for and received disability payments from the federal government.
But in the six months since the changes were adopted, the agency approved 64 of the 66 occupational disability claims filed by retired L.I.R.R. workers, according to the review, an audit by the Government Accountability Office that is to be released on Friday. A copy of the report was obtained by The Times.
The approval rate was roughly 97 percent, about the same level as before the new measures were enacted.
“Business as usual,” said Daniel Bertoni, the director of disability issues at the Government Accountability Office, who oversaw the study.
The more stringent review measures involved additional medical exams, M.R.I. scans and attempts to detect unusual patterns in claims, like the frequent use of the same doctors.
But Mr. Bertoni said the changes did not address the underlying criteria used by the board to determine whether an employee qualified for disability payments. “The bar is somewhat lower than for other disability programs like the Social Security Administration,” he said.
As part of its oversight plan, the retirement board reviewed the cases of 74 retired L.I.R.R. employees who were receiving disability payments. As of April, benefits were continued in 73 of those cases; in the other case, the worker was found to have died, according to the report.
Steven A. Bartholow, the general counsel of the Railroad Retirement Board, acknowledged that the changes did not seem to have produced the desired effect.
“The statistics suggest that the additional scrutiny, including the additional medical examinations and post-award reviews, have not significantly affected the percentage of awards of occupational disability annuities to Long Island Rail Road employees,” Mr. Bartholow wrote in an e-mail message in response to questions.
But, he added, “It is too early to draw any firm conclusions.”
Michael S. Schwartz, the chairman of the retirement board, and Jerome F. Kever, a board member, did not respond to telephone calls on Thursday. A third board member, V. M. Speakman Jr., could not be reached.
Since 2000, about $250 million in federal disability money has been paid to former L.I.R.R. employees, many of whom can also retire early with a pension in addition to any disability pay.
The board, based in Chicago, provides a range of benefits to the employees of all the nation’s railroads. Nearly every application for disability payment, regardless of the railroad an employee worked for, is approved.
But the board receives far more occupational disability claims from L.I.R.R. employees than from workers at any other railroad. Since 2000, as many as 97 percent of L.I.R.R. workers over age 50 who retired with 20 years of service have received the disability payments, which is three to four times the national average for railroads.
The retirement board spent $248,000 to implement its additional review measures for L.I.R.R. disability claims, according to the government report. It also planned to more carefully scrutinize disability claim data to identify anomalies.
Mr. Bertoni noted the retirement board uses the more stringent measures to review only L.I.R.R. claims, not those of other railroads.
“A problem was raised about L.I.R.R., and the board responded,” he said. “Their response was to focus on cases in the L.I.R.R. Could they potentially look at other lines? Should they down the road? Perhaps.”
The Government Accountability Office plans to continue its audit of the retirement board, which is also under investigation by the New York attorney general’s office.
The president of the L.I.R.R., Helena E. Williams, said in a statement that the railroad had taken steps to educate employees about the proper use of the retirement board, including ethics training and additional scrutiny of its pension office. The railroad is not involved in granting federal disability pensions.
Mr. Bartholow said the retirement board “would not hesitate” to enact additional changes to curb any continuing abuses, but he did not disclose specific plans.
“The Railroad Retirement Board takes its statutory responsibility to pay benefits in the right amounts to the right people very seriously,” he said.