Judge tosses cops' termination pay suit

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit that claimed a cap on the termination pay of retiring police officers amounted to age discrimination.

The suit was brought in 2009 by six Nassau police officers against the county and three police unions -- the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the Superior Officers Association and the Detectives' Association.

The six wanted the county to not only end the cap policy, but to turn the suit into a class action that could potentially have involved hundreds of police officers and could have cost the county tens of millions of dollars.

U.S. District Court Judge Denis Hurley in Central Islip ruled late Thursday that officers who chose to retire were actually financially favored over those still working, and, thus, the cap policy did not violate federal age discrimination laws.

This is because officers who retired before July 2009, when the policy took effect, could still have received their uncapped pay, Hurley ruled.

Since they had an incentive to retire and get all the uncapped termination benefits, "the older workers are in every respect better off than the younger workers, not worse," Hurley wrote, quoting one of his earlier decisions in the case.

Officers who chose not to retire before 2009 and future officers would be treated equally, Hurley said.

Retiring officers had been getting as much as $500,000 in termination pay -- which is the amount of accrued sick and personal leave -- and unused vacation pay.

Under the new capped termination policy, which the county got through arbitration involving the three unions, the amount of termination pay was held to twice an officer's annual salary.

James Vagnini, of Garden City, the attorney for the police officers who sued, said Friday that he disagreed with the judge's ruling, and added: "It is not over." He said his clients would consider appealing, or suing in state court.

But the attorney for the county, Richard Zuckerman, of Melville, hailed the decision. "We are glad for the county and our taxpayers," Zuckerman said.

The attorney for the PBA, Seth Greenberg, of Lake Success, said the judge was following the law, and, while the union might not agree with the policy, the county had gotten it at arbitration.