Ably Disabled? Thanks, Doc!

Retiring as a public employee?  You’ll usually get a better deal, and earlier, if disability is the reason.  The Long Island Railroad (LIRR) in metropolitan New York has had extraordinarily high disability retirement rates–in some years over 90%–among employees who worked in an alternative universe where relatively low-intensity jobs occupationally incapacitated just about everybody. Not surprisingly, retirement-enabling diagnoses were easy to get from doctors like Peter Ajemian, whose fraudulent work-ups just earned him forced retirement to federal prison.