Federal agents yesterday swooped down on the Long Island office of an obscure US agency that’s been dispensing disability checks “like candy on Halloween” to LIRR retirees, scooping up documents and records, sources said.
The raid on the Westbury office of the US Railroad Retirement Board came as calls grew louder for an explanation of the agency’s approval of benefits for an “unfathomable” number of retired workers with little or no review, sources told The Post.
“This has been going on there for years, and who knows, it could have been going on for generations,” said one law-enforcement source.
“An outrageous number used the system – it’s unfathomable.”
New York Sen. Charles Schumer said nearly 100 percent of LIRR retired workers have put in for – and gotten – disability benefits, though there’s no record of their on-the-job injuries.
“Disability benefits must not be given away like candy on Halloween,” Schumer said.
“Families of railroad workers across the country depend on this safety net – should their loved-ones actually get hurt on the job – and to raid the piggy bank like this is simply unacceptable behavior.”
He called yesterday for an internal probe of the board – which he described as an “archaic agency – and allegations that it OK’d millions of dollars in federal benefits for able-bodied retirees.
“There is something rotten in the state of Denmark,” he said.
Schumer is asking the head of the Government Accountability Office and the inspector general of the Railroad Retirement Board to conduct a joint investigation.
Gov. Paterson yesterday called on Congress to look into the workings of the agency – a day after State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said his office was issuing subpoenas for railroad records.
The railroad says it is cooperating. LIRR officials and investigators from the AG’s Office are meeting this week.
“No one from the Long Island Rail Road or from the MTA was involved in the granting of these disability pensions by the US Railroad Retirement Board,” the LIRR said.
One longtime MTA employee said last night the work can be backbreaking.
“It’s a lot of physical work,” the employee said of a friend who lays track for the LIRR.
“He’ll just come home at night and fall right asleep.”
An assistant LIRR conductor said the public has to be careful not to rush to judgment.
“I think it’s an individual thing,” he said. “I do know these people work very hard . . . and should be compensated for it.”
Another LIRR employee said it would help to know what exactly retirees’ claims were for.
“Some of us can’t hear,” he said, noting it’s “an occupational disability.”
“It’s not like we’re here from 9-to-5 and we’re stealing from somebody,” he said.
Additional reporting by Erin Calabrese