Cop
on disability faulted for side job: drug dealer
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(Reuters) - It's a standard feature of
workers' compensation insurance policies that you can't hold a job while
collecting benefits, but the Ohio Supreme Court took the definition of
"job" to a new level this week -- drug dealing, it turns out, is real
work.
The
court, in a 7-page ruling on Thursday, said a police officer collecting
permanent and total disability was improperly engaged in "sustained
remunerative employment" because he was regularly selling prescription
drugs.
Former
Parma, Ohio, police officer Donald McNea Jr. went on disability in 2004, the
court's ruling said. Between October and December 2005, he made four recorded
drug sales. He was arrested that December and pled guilty to four felony
charges in September 2007, receiving a three-year prison sentence.
But
McNea challenged a ruling by the state's industrial commission that he had been
overpaid benefits starting from the date of his first known drug sale. The
state supreme court, in a unanimous judgment, supported that decision.