Life /
Disability Law and Payments in Poland - Questions [6]
Hi,
I've been living in Poland in a farming village for over 6 years now and have come to respect how hard Poles work. What taints this reputation of hard work is when I see individuals here, both young and old, applying for and receiving disability payments (Renta) when they obviously aren't qualified for it. This was a common occurrence in New York City as well, especially with employees of the Long Island Railroad who after retiring with a decent pension, applied for and were entitled to lifetime disability payments in addition to their pensions. The New York Times (read article entitled, "nytimes.com/2008/09/21/nyregion/21lirr.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=disability% 20long%20island%20railroad&st=cse&oref=slogin - A Disability Epidemic Among a Railroad’s Retirees") interviewed several of those disability recipients at a Long Island Golf course swinging their clubs away. Imagine that? (Note: In the USA, when one recieves disability, you are not allowed by law to do anything physically demanding, otherwise, this defeats the purpose of disability and the payments for being disabled).
Similar to those individuals who cheat the disability system in the USA, I find this to be a very common practice in Poland as well. I see those who are getting disability payments because they are allegedly physically (or mentally) impaired in one way or another, and yet, they are out on the farm performing physically demanding work Also, they often spend a lot of their income on some drinking and smoking. I spoke to one neighbor about this asking, "Those individuals on disability, are they allowed to work on the farm, navigating their tractor, and harvesting food, etc?" My neighbor replied, "Those with farm disablity are NOT allowed to continue doing farm work and other demanding tasks, however, those with disability from a private or state company ARE allowed to."
Does anyone know the correct law on this? This seems to be an enormous drain on public funding and finances, in both Poland and the USA. Imagine the savings if disability laws were tougher and those receiving it were monitored more carefully. What is your opinion?
