Request By:
Mr. James Ryan, Jr., President
Policemen's and Firemen's Pension Fund Board
410 West Main Street
Danville, Kentucky 40422
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of April 20, in which you relate that a petition for retirement has been submitted to the board by an officer requesting retirement on the basis of a service-related physical disability as authorized by KRS 95.550. The petition was accompanied by a physician's statement concerning the disability. However, the question of whether the disability was job related by reason of service in the department cannot be readily ascertained. Your primary question is whether or not the board should consider this officer's request, based on the circumstances and applicable law or whether it would be justified in having a second physician, chosen by the board, examine the officer.
Disability benefits under KRS 95.550 must be based upon work-related disabilities, and in order for the board to determine whether or not the disability was in fact work related, KRS 95.540, concerning the board's rule-making power, certainly authorizes it to request a physician of its own choice to examine the petitioner and submit a statement as to whether in his professional opinion the disability was or could be work related.
As pointed out in City of Lexington v. Wilburn, Ky., 265 S.W.2d 777 (1954), the board of trustees is vested with sufficient authority to determine to its own satisfaction the eligibility of members for pension.
Also, with respect to your question concerning physicians' statements, we refer you to KRS 95.864 pertaining to disability retirements for police and firemen in cities of the second class and the enclosed opinions, OAG 81-370 and 77-225 which may be of interest to the board of trustees.