Legal Question in Employment Law in California

I am a firefighter for a major US city and I am interested in knowing how to tackle a retirement issue. I began employment with the city in 1983. In 1993, I suffered severe chest pains while working. My final diagnosis was myocarditis. My age at the time of injury was 31 years old. I was taken off of work immediately, and my injury was deemed work related. One year later I applied for duty disability and was required to have an independent doctors examination to determine causality (duty related or non duty related). The examination and review took approximately 14 months to complete, but was contractually limited to 60 days. The medical board of review process, consisting of three different doctors, was designed to be a final determinant of causality. Three different opinions were formulated at review. The first doctor opined that disability was non duty related, the second stated that there was in fact a disability but its causality could not be determined, the third insisted that there was no disability at all. From this review, the municipality arbitrarily decided that injury was non duty related. In the interim, my health has improved and I returned to active duty in 2008 as a full-time firefighter. I am now looking to retire and am being denied my time from disability, impacting seniority and pension. Is there any way to bring an action against this municipality for violation of fiduciary duty, breach of contract (fraud, misrepresentation, etc.), malfeasance, or any public policy issue?


Asked on 3/20/11, 4:12 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Your issue is a question of your local state's law, and any union contract in place at the time. Your zip code is not in California. You need to ask this in the correct state.

Read more
Answered on 3/20/11, 11:16 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Labor and Employment Law questions and answers in California