An Illinois appellate court has upheld a former Chicago police detective’s entitlement to duty disability benefits, affirming she suffered depression while on duty after being retaliated against and harassed for reporting the possible misconduct of two officers.
Chicago’s Retirement Board of the Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund in February 2023 denied former Chicago police Det. Beth Svec’s application for duty disability benefits and only approved ordinary disability benefits, claiming that her diagnosis for depression and anxiety did not derive from an act of duty.
The case stems from when Svec was investigating the arrests that two CPD officers made of two men on May 30, 2016, on the South Side.
Svec was placed on medical leave in May 2017 because of depression “stemming from the 2016 arrest investigation and subsequently triggered by the lawsuit-related backlash she received,” states the appellate court order, which was issued Wednesday.
A doctor had diagnosed Svec with major depressive disorder and unspecified anxiety, and advised her not to return to work in any capacity. She never returned to work after taking medical leave.
The officers told Svec, and documented in a police report, that they arrested two men — one who was sitting on top of a gun on a barstool on a front porch, and one who allegedly punched an officer in the head when they approached the first man.
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