MEMORANDUM:

The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed, with costs, and the judgment of Supreme Court reinstated.

The Appellate Division upheld the Department's denial of section 207-c benefits to petitioners -- corrections officers employed by the Nassau County Sheriff's Department -- based on erroneous application of a “heightened risk” standard. Eligibility for General Municipal Law § 207-c benefits is not contingent upon a covered municipal employee's “demonstrating an injury sustained in the performance of special work related to the heightened risks and duties inherent in law enforcement” ( Matter of Theroux v Reilly, 1 NY3d 232, 239 [2003]). Rather, “to be eligible for section 207-c benefits, a covered municipal employee need only prove,” as did petitioners in this case, “a 'direct causal relationship between job duties and the resulting illness or injury'”( Matter of Theroux, 1 NY3d at 243-244).