Want to go on disability? Work for the railroad.

The New York Times
reports today on the Railroad Retirement Board, which is the Social Security program for railroad employees. Apparently the Board approves 98 percent of applications for disability payments, which implies either that railroad workers get disabled a lot or that the RRB is lax in its oversight. I suspect the latter. A choice quote:

Since its inception, the board has been so riven with conflicts that it took a half century to update what were supposed to be temporary disability standards, leaving in place until 1998 archaic diagnostic terms like "cretinism," "imbecility" and "middle-class moronism."

It's not uncommon for public sector workers to effectively retire on disability, as it generally provides higher payments and often a tax exemption. This story in the Washington Post documents similar abuses in the Montgomery County, Maryland police department.