New Law Helps With Retirement Benefits for Workers Hurt on the Job

back

New Law Helps With Retirement Benefits for Workers Hurt on the Job

By Stephen Barr, The Washington Post

Friday, October 10, 2003

President Bush has signed legislation that will help make up any shortfall in retirement benefits for federal employees who are disabled or injured while on the job.

The legislation grew out of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Pentagon and the injuries suffered by Louise Kurtz, a civilian Army employee who was severely burned when terrorists slammed a jetliner into the Defense Department headquarters.

In the attack, Kurtz, of Stafford County, lost her ears and fingers and suffered burns over more than 70 percent of her body. Her lengthy recuperation will prevent her from being able to fully contribute to her retirement -- a potential financial setback that two Virginia lawmakers sought to correct through the legislation.

Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), the legislation's original sponsor, steered the measure through the Senate last year. Rep. Jo Ann S. Davis (R-Va.) sponsored the bill in the House this year.

The new law will change the way a federal employee's benefits are calculated during a disability by increasing the pension benefit provided under the Federal Employees Retirement System to cover any shortfall.

Davis called the new law "great news for federal workers who may face a shortfall in their pensions after suffering an on-the-job injury since they are unable to pay into Social Security or the federal Thrift Savings Plan while collecting workers' compensation payments."

Allen said the law honors Kurtz and helps "ensure that the pensions of our hard-working federal employees [will] be kept whole during a period of injury and recuperation, especially now that many of them are on the front lines, protecting our homeland security in the war on terror."