Background
Mark Schneider, an Elgin firefighter/paramedic, injured his back while lifting a patient during an emergency response in March 2022. He underwent spinal-fusion surgery and was ultimately found permanently unable to return to firefighter duty. He applied for a line-of-duty disability pension while receiving workers’ compensation temporary total disability benefits from the City of Elgin.
While off work, Schneider was formally promoted and sworn in as a lieutenant on April 12, 2024. He never performed lieutenant duties, received lieutenant pay, or made pension contributions at that rate. The pension board awarded him a disability pension calculated from a firefighter’s salary, finding that he was removed from the payroll on June 4, 2024. The Kane County circuit court affirmed.
The Court’s Holding
The Illinois Appellate Court reversed. Under section 4-110 of the Illinois Pension Code, a line-of-duty disability pension is based on 65% of the monthly salary attached to the rank the firefighter held when removed from the municipality’s fire-department payroll. Because Schneider was a lieutenant when the Board found he was removed from payroll, his pensionable salary must be based on the lieutenant rank.
The court held that the Board clearly erred by treating Schneider’s prior firefighter rank as controlling. The statute does not require the firefighter to have performed work in the promoted rank, received its pay, or contributed to the pension fund at that rate. The court also found that provisions defining salary for other Pension Code sections, and a nonbinding Department of Insurance advisory opinion, did not impose those additional conditions.
Key Takeaways
- For a line-of-duty disability pension, section 4-110 focuses on the rank held when the firefighter is removed from payroll.
- A formal promotion before payroll removal can control even if the firefighter never worked or was paid in the new rank.
- The court reversed the circuit court and pension board and remanded for recalculation using the lieutenant salary.
Why It Matters
The decision applies the Pension Code’s payroll clause according to its text and liberally in favor of the pensioner. Municipal pension boards cannot add requirements—such as actual service, higher-rank compensation, or corresponding contributions—that section 4-110 does not state.