The measure would amend the city charter to clarify that disability retirement is intended only for those whose injuries prevent them from working.

"It is evident from the city auditor's report that the disability retirement system is broken and is in dire need of reform," Reed and Nguyen wrote in a memorandum to the City Council. They also called for forming an independent committee to review and decide on disability retirement applications.

The City Council will consider the proposal to prepare ballot language Tuesday when it reviews the disability audit.

Robert Sapien, president of the San Jose firefighters union, called the proposed ballot measure a misfire that fails to target the real problem of a broken workers' compensation program. He called it "a final insult to injured firefighters when they can no longer serve the citizens of San Jose."

"Ready, shoot, aim is the apparent form of government we are under," Sapien said.

Disability pensions are approved by the trustees of San Jose's two pension systems, one for police and firefighters and the other for the rest of the city workforce. Those council-appointed boards include current and retired city employees, but recently were reconstituted to replace City Council members and administrators with independent financial experts.


The city audit and Mercury News investigation found that San Jose police and firefighters retire on disability at unusually high rates not seen among other large cities. Most of those receiving disability pensions were already old enough to qualify for a regular service retirement and in many cases continued working until it was granted.

The audit found that two-thirds of San Jose firefighters and a third of city police officers were retiring on disability, rates that dwarfed those in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and Fresno. There's a big financial incentive to seek a disability pension: It's tax-free for those not eligible to retire, and mostly tax-free for those who are. The audit found that the tax break is worth more than $16,000 for a hypothetical officer or firefighter.

The audit noted that current rules make it easy to qualify for disability retirement. Applicants need only show that the city doesn't have a job in the same classification that can accommodate their injuries. Many continue working in other jobs, though the disability pension is limited for those who haven't reached retirement eligibility.

Nguyen said the changes would prevent "double-dipping" abuses in which employees retire on disability after full careers and then take other jobs. For those not eligible to retire who continuing working other jobs, disability pensions are capped to prevent total earnings from topping the employee's former salary. That cap is lifted once the employee reaches retirement eligibility.

Councilman Pete Constant, who retired on disability from the police force after 11 years, said the real abuses weren't younger officers like himself who suffered career-ending injuries but veterans squeezing the system for tax breaks.

"They didn't find abuses from people who left early," Constant said. "It's the people who worked a full 30 years and getting disability retirement on the way out the door to get a tax advantage. We have to root out abuse of the system."