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I can't find much back info on how/why this cop lost his job. Apparently he was a hero in the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando last year, and was fired this year, and pension benefits seemed to be canceled.
Does anyone have enough knowledge regarding Florida police pensions to give an informed technical opinion? Details are scant, but I found it interesting that a relatively high profile officer was canned and lost his pension shortly before retirement.
He is 6 months short of becoming vested in the pension system. He is being fired because he has not been able to return to his work as a patrolman (he was given a desk job instead, but that is now ending) due to PTSD and trauma from the Pulse nightclub mass shooting event.
"Delgado was lauded as a hero for saving nightclub shooting victim Angel Colon during the June 2016 shooting, which killed 49 people. He returned to patrol duty after that, but eventually took a desk job. On Monday, he was told that job is ending. Town officials won’t say why, but Delgado said a doctor’s finding that PTSD makes him unfit to return to full duty is a factor.
He’s not the first officer at the horrific shooting scene to meet this fate. The Orlando Police Department granted early retirement benefits in July to Officer Gerry Realin, 37, who was diagnosed with PTSD and will get about 80 percent of his $70,000 salary each year for life.
Eatonville, however, is financially struggling. The nation’s oldest incorporated African-American town, known as the home of author Zora Neale Hurston, it has about 2,000 people and a small police department, where Delgado has worked for 9 ½ years. Another six months, and he would become vested in the pension system, able to collect 64 percent of his $38,500 salary and benefits for life.
Instead, the newspaper reports, Delgado will receive 42 percent of his salary starting when he’s 55 years old. He is now 45.
“It’s a small town … Everyone’s family here, and I thought I was going to be treated like family,” Delgado said. “I didn’t think I was going to be treated this way."
"Delgado—a nine-and-a-half-year veteran of the department—is being forced out just six months before he can receive his full retirement pension and disability benefits. If he made the 10-year mark, the 45-year-old officer could receive 64 percent of his salary and benefits for life.
The timing of Delgado’s firing, however, means that Delgado is entitled to disability or a retirement pension, but not both, according to WESH-TV. As it stands, Delgado will only receive 42 percent of his salary (his disability pension), which will kick in when he turns 55.
As Time magazine notes, Delgado isn’t the first officer who responded to the Pulse-nightclub shooting to be fired following a PTSD diagnosis. The Orlando Police Department let go Officer Gerry Realin, 37, in July. However, Realin will receive 80 percent of his $70,000 salary each year for the rest of life. Compare that with Delgado, who stands to receive 42 percent of his $38,500 salary annually.
But Eatonville, the home of Zora Neale Hurston and the oldest incorporated African-American town in the country, is reportedly strapped for cash. The Eatonville Town Council, following a harsh backlash to news of Delgado’s firing (WESH-TV reports that city officials have received death threats), voted unanimously to give Delgado an additional $1,200. The city also said that it would continue to help the officer with PTSD counseling."
Last edited by matisse12; 12-09-2017 at 03:57 AM..
I can't find much back info on how/why this cop lost his job. Apparently he was a hero in the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando last year, and was fired this year, and pension benefits seemed to be canceled.
Cancelled? Where did you come up with that? That certainly isn't what was written in the linked article: "Instead, Delgado will now only receive 42% of his salary starting when he turns 55."
His pension may not be as lucrative as it would have been had he not been terminated, and it won't result in an immediate payment, but his pension certainly wasn't cancelled.
No, public or government jobs are not immune to the failing pension systems.
I never worked anywhere that offered a pension, or I'd still be there, just for the pension alone.
Heck, even 401ks are coming harder to get as many employers don't offer them any longer, either. At least for the lower middle class and under.
They'll do what they have to to avoid paying pensions, just you watch.
It's all in effort to make or keep the masses poor, and do away with everything but their own savings. Even that will somehow be confiscated in the future. Do away with retirement plans, cut or do away with SS , leaves little for retirement, and since many can't save a nickel let alone a dime, they'll have nothing to fall back on. Then to make sure we do away with the poor, well bankrupt them further by requiring to buy healthcare.
But that will be detrimental, they'll see the error of their ways too late for anyone who is rich and in government to see.
The queen bee always always always needs her worker bees!!!!
Read more carefully. He will get a pension, just not what he expected. Seems fair, but only if he can get SSDI for his PTSD.
Yeah the guy is a hero. This was a terrorist activity and an ordinary cop stopped it. Now he has PTSD and ca only work a desk job? If I were him, I'd be unioning up so I don't need to go through SSDI. There is no reason to tap into that, the people should fund 100%, not 42%.
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