City Hall – Council Members Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) and Peter Vallone, Jr. (D-Queens) are introducing a Resolution today calling on the State Legislature to pass S.4164/A.2989 and put an end to public employees unfairly collecting damages from lawsuits against government employers on top of government disability benefits.

“Injured government employees deserve to collect their fair share of damages, no more and no less,” said Felder. “Double-dipping allows them to collect damages twice, and costs city taxpayers millions each year.”

The process, termed “double dipping”, is a legal loophole that allows public employees who are injured in work-related accidents to sue for future lost earnings in addition to collecting accident disability pension – thus getting paid twice on the taxpayers’ dime. Private companies, not bound by the same law, deduct pension payments from the amount they have to pay in damages. The NYC Law Department estimates that by closing the double-dipping loophole, the city would save $164 in pending lawsuits and an additional $11 million per year thereafter.

“For some reason, New York is the only state I’m aware of that allows trial attorneys to take tens of millions of dollars away from taxpayers. As the state and city face this fiscal crisis, it’s obscene to allow this to go on any longer,” Vallone said.

In September, Council Members Felder and Vallone sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Skelos and Assembly Speaker Silver asking for their support to end the double-dipping loophole and to re-instate the commuter tax in order to put a significant dent in projected budget shortfalls.

(Moshe Altusky – YWN Desk)