Every third Friday the Medical Examining Board will issue decisions on behalf of the Retirement Services Division and State Employees Retirement Commission. They will release a list of Connecticut State Employees who are applying for State Disability Retirement benefits. A typical decision will grant or deny a Connecticut worker disability benefits.
The Connecticut state retirement summary plan description and C.S.G § 5-169 provide the definition of disability.
Definition of Disability
At first, disabled means you are permanently unable to perform the duties of your job. After you have received disability benefits for 24 months, you are considered disabled only if you are totally unable to work at any suitable and comparable job. Your disability may be service-connected or non-service connected.
Time Periods Filing Your Claim
The time period for filing an application for disability retirement benefits or petition for service connected disability retirement shall begin on the day after the applicant’s last day of paid employment by the State of Connecticut and shall end at close of business on the date that is twenty-four months after the applicant’s last day of paid employment. Regs. Conn. State Agencies § 5-155a-2(d).
If you miss that two-year filing window, The Commission, in its sole discretion and after hearing held by it, may allow equitable tolling of any of the time periods set out in this regulation and thus extend the time period for filing a claim. In order to equitably toll all or a portion of said time period, a petitioner shall show that extraordinary circumstances prevented him or her from filing his or her petition within the specified time period. Regs. Conn. State Agencies § 5-155a-2(i).