Wells v. Police & Firefighter's Retirement & Relief Board

This case concerns the criteria for disability retirement from the Metropolitan Police Department when the claimant is permanently, but only partially, disabled. I agree with my colleagues in the majority that a police officer is not “disabled,” within the meaning of D.C.Code § 4-607(2) (1981), unless “he is unable to perform work in any position at the same salary level as he previously earned.” Ante at 138 (citations omitted).1 An officer, therefore, will not be entitled to disability retirement merely by showing a physical inability to perform the job he or she held at the time of the…