Brooklyn Paper: Three Bills from Sen. Gounardes Signed into Law, Codifying Protections for Firefighters, Families

Three bills introduced by Brooklyn state Sen. Andrew Gounardes were signed into law Tuesday, codifying protections for current and former firefighters and their families. 

The bills, Gounardes said, will ensure firefighters receive the healthcare and benefits care they need, extend care to spouses of fire protection inspectors, and create “pension parity” for first responders.

"Firefighters are first responders that play a literal life-and-death role in keeping New Yorkers safe,” Gounardes said in a statement. “These bills ensure we make the same commitment to firefighters that they make to all of us."

Breaking down the bills

The first of the three bills relates to disability benefits for firefighters.

When first responders are injured in the line of duty, they’re eligible for performance of duty disability retirement — meaning they can retire, with certain benefits, shortly after the disabling incident.

Disability can refer to injuries, but also often relates to illnesses related to the person’s job. In New York City and state, that largely includes certain cancers, especially if they’re related to 9/11.

But there was an oversight — firefighters with thyroid and endocrine cancers were not eligible under state law for performance of duty disability retirement, even though the rate of thyroid cancer in firefighters has increased. 

Thyroid cancer was covered under the World Trade Center 9/11 Bill, and in New York City, it was immediately assumed that thyroid cancer was work-related — but the same wasn’t true for others across the state, until Gounardes’ bill. 

The second bill expanded lifetime COBRA insurance benefits to surviving spouses of fire protection inspectors. 

While protection inspectors don’t actively fight fires, they do critical work — they’re responsible for examining all kinds of buildings and equipment to identify fire hazards, and inspect sites of extinguished fires after the fact. 

A law passed last year extended lifetime COBRA insurance benefits to families of city employees — but the spouses and families of FDNY employees were only eligible for lifetime coverage if their family member had retired at the time of their death. If their loved one was still alive, they would receive only 36 months of coverage.

Gounardes’ bill closed the gap, ensuring the families of FDNY employees, including fire protection inspectors, can receive lifetime benefits. The law “treats all FDNY uniformed members with the same level of dignity and respect by ensuring all surviving spouses are afforded equal levels of health care coverage,” according to the senator’s office.

His final bill addressed issues with pension equity. Before 2019, NYPD officers who had joined the Cadet Corps before 2012 were “wrongfully denied the opportunity” to join the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, and ended up with reduced benefits when they retired.

A 2019 bill fixed that issue, but only for police officers. Meanwhile, FDNY officers, many of whom joined the Cadet Corps before pivoting to the fire department, were left with reduced benefits. 

Under Gounardes’ newly-passed bill, eligible FDNY employees can use their time in the Cadet Corps toward their retirement benefits, and claim better pensions when they retire.

Read the full story here.