If you have a potentially career ending injury, you should immediately consult with a Minnesota attorney who practices in PERA and MSRS disability law. Although it may be too soon to determine if you can return to work, you should still consult with an attorney right away to learn about your options. If you wait two years after your work injury it may be too late to apply for PERA or MSRS Duty Disability benefits.

To receive Duty Disability benefits, Minnesota police officers, deputy sheriffs, firefighters, and corrections officers must show that he or she has a condition that is expected to prevent him or her from performing “the normal duties” of his or her position for a period of twelve months as “a direct result of an injury incurred during the performance of inherently dangerous duties that are specific to” the position of police officer. See Minn. Stat. § 353.01, subd, 41. Members of the police and fire plan must show:

• The injury will persist for over one year
• The injury was sustained while performing inherently dangerous duties specific to the position
• The disablement is a direct result of the injury

When the Minnesota legislature opened the 2017 session, a crucial bill that directly affects Minnesota’s first responders who suffer from PTSD was re-introduced. This bill was originally presented in April of 2016, and did not pass at that time although information has been communicated and much awareness has been raised about this important topic.

Meuser Law Office, P.A. understands the importance of legislature such as this and created a petition in April 2016 to help spread the word and gather support for this bill. We encourage all current and former law enforcement officers, firefighters, State Troopers, first responders, and family and friends of Minnesota’s first responders to sign and share this petition and/or contact their legislators to urge them to support this important bill.

After an employer and insurer denies responsibility for a part or the entirety of a work injury and refuses to pay benefits, an attorney may initiate a workers’ compensation claim in Minnesota by filing a claim petition with the Court. Sometimes it’s appropriate for an attorney to file a request for rehabilitation or medical request with the Department of Labor and Industry and other times it’s more effective and advantageous to file a claim petition. In other cases, the case is on the hearing track after a lost .239 or NOID conference and a party will file a request for a formal hearing.

A claim petition sets forth the basic information about the employee’s claim, such as:

• Employee’s name
• Employer
• Insurer for the employer
• Address
• Social security number
• Date of birth
• Date(s) of injury