Ex-Congressman Gets $100,000 a Year in Workers' Compensation for Bipolar Disorder

Friday, February 24, 2017 | 0

Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who was convicted of looting thousands of dollars from his campaign fund, is receiving $138,400 a year in disability checks from the federal government.

Jesse Jackson Jr.

A little more than $100,000 is worker’s compensation and tax free, and the rest comes from Social Security Disability Insurance payments, The Chicago Tribune reports.

Chicago attorney Barry Schatz, who is representing Jackson in a divorce proceeding, told the newspaper that Jackson receives the taxpayer assistance because of bipolar disorder and depression, the conditions that forced him from Congress in 2012.

The workers’ compensation benefits from the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act are for temporary total disability.

Arik Wilkenfeld, a Washington employment lawyer who has handled dozens of disability cases involving federal employees, told the Tribune that Jackson is the first person to his knowledge who is collecting workers’ compensation for bipolar disorder.

“What’s remarkable here is by his getting workers’ comp, it appears that Congressman Jackson’s attorneys have convinced the government that his bipolar disorder was created by the rigors of being a member of Congress,” Wilkenfeld told the newspaper.

His attorney could not explain how the congressman’s job caused his bipolar disorder. Jackson was sentenced to 30 months in prison for wire and mail fraud, and served 22 months in correctional facilities, a halfway house and on home detention.