JCD 1197

http://archives.umc.org/interior_judicial.asp?mid=263&JDID=1318&JDMOD=VWD&SN=1101&EN=1200

This decision patiently distinguishes between the guidelines provided for incapacity for an annual conference with regard the standing of the pastor and with the guidelines of the General Board of Pensions and Health Benefits for picking up the cost of the benefits upon confirming incapacity for at least six months.

In the instant case, it took the General Board eight months to make that determination. Meanwhile the benefit was paid by the annual conference (Board of Pensions) on the presumption the General Board would pay back what the conference covered plus pick up any future payments necessary. Such a length of time is not unheard of before a determination is made. It is a compassionate risk a conference takes when it grants incapacity leave, knowing the General Board is very strict about what constitutes incapacity.

The question of the pastor’s standing in the conference when the General Board does not grant incapacity was raised at the annual conference session. The Judicial Council parsed the distinctions saying the conference votes the pastor’s standing but the General Board does not. This decision reminds the Church about this long standing principle.

The conference officers were left with the dilemma of continuing to fund the incapacity leave during a period of low financial resources, learning the General Board was not going to bail them out in that specific case. Conference officers did then seek to drop the pastor from incapacity leave at annual conference because the General Board did not pick up the costs.

The payment amounts to only 70% of the conference average salary so no one would be gaming the system. The pastor may also seek Social Security Incapacity (SSI), something that has its own criteria which may differ from the conference’s and the General Board’s. It is not uncommon in some cases that the federal government is more compassionate than the Church. I have been told that the General Board then diminishes its contribution by the amount SSI picks up.

The Council cleared the air on the pastor’s conference standing. It was up to the conference to handle the pastor’s standing no matter what the General Board did. I just hope someone in the conference advised the pastor to seek SSI at the same time he sought incapacity from the General Board because the General Board would have a hard time justifying refusing incapacity when the federal government grants it.