In Sisco v The Board of Trustees of the Police Retirement System of St. Louis, 31 S.W.3d 114 (Mo.App. E.D. 2000), employee sought declaratory judgment that police board trustees of city police retirement system could not offset his workers’ compensation benefits against his disability retirement. The offset was allowed, because both were disability payments paid on account of the same injury.
(The critical distinction for credit is whether the payment was paid as “disability” or as income (subject to income tax withholding by the employee, thus being a partial contribution by the employee, not a total payment by the employer.) Any such payment should always be designated as a payment of “disability” and not as “income” or “income replacement”.)
In Cook v Sunnen Products Corp., 937 S.W.2d 221 (Mo.App. E.D, 1996), AN EMPLOYER WHO PAID AN INJURED EMPLOYEE FULL SALARY AS WAGES, NOT AS DISABILITY PAYMENTS, when the employee was on temporary total disability, does not have a credit against any temporary total disability owed.
This is an extremely important case, and illustrates that when a worker is injured, payments must be made as “disability” and not as salary payments, or there will be a “double liability.”