Chief Leader – July 21, 2015
by SARAH DORSEY
The Uniformed Firefighters Association announced July 14 that it had filed suit against the City Council and Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito for failing to disclose why a proposal to raise police and firefighter disability benefits wasn’t the subject of hearings earlier this year. ‘Unconscionable, Cynical’
In the Article 78 suit, UFA President Steve Cassidy cited the Council for failing to comply with a Freedom of Information Law request, slamming Ms. Mark-Viverito for “unconscionable political maneuvering” and “cynically preventing the operation of the democratic process.”
“She can disagree with us. She can even vote against us. But she does not have the right to stop a debate,” Mr. Cassidy said at a press conference, standing before about 30 young firefighters on the steps of Manhattan Supreme Court.
The UFA leader had sought to learn why Ms. Mark-Viverito blocked a home-rule message by Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley that would have allowed Albany lawmakers to vote to increase line-of-duty disability benefits for his members.
Ms. Crowley, the chair of the Fire and Criminal Justice Services Committee, filed the home-rule request on Jan. 14, which if approved would have allowed bills sponsored by State Sen. Martin Golden and Assemblyman Peter Abbate restoring the benefits to move forward.
According to the lawsuit, Ms. Crowley at the end of March asked Ms. Mark-Viverito’s Chief of Staff, Ramon Martinez, why her request, which had attracted a super-majority of supporters in the Council, had not been brought to a vote.
Mr. Martinez said that another Council Member had previously filed a home-rule message on the matter, and only he or she could do so. He would not disclose the Member’s name, but confirmed that it was not the Speaker.
Data Union’s Seeking
The UFA leader filed a FOIL request seeking the Member’s name, the date the home-rule request was filed, the dates of any upcoming hearings, and the minutes of any Council discussions about the matter. It was denied by the Council FOIL officer, and again denied on appeal.
Line-of-duty benefits, provided for cops and firefighters who are forced to retire due to a permanent work-related injury, were dramatically lowered for those hired beginning in 2010. Then-Gov. David Paterson the previous year vetoed a Tier 2 extender bill that for decades had routinely renewed the benefits.
That proposal would have extended Tier 2 line-of-duty disability benefits—worth three-quarters of final average salary, tax-free—to the newly-hired. Since Mr. Paterson’s veto, new hires are eligible for half their final salary, subject to state and Federal taxes, and offset by half of any Social Security disability benefits received. Mr. Cassidy calculated that for the lowest rung of newly-hired Firefighters, the payments would amount to just $27 a day.
Ms. Mark-Viverito cited attorney-client privilege in withholding the Member’s name, as did FOIL Officer Danielle Barbato. Appeals Officer Jason Otaño also noted that communication within and between city agencies was exempt from FOIL.
Allows Franker Discussion?
“This exception is intended to permit people within an agency or between agencies to exchange opinions, advice and criticism ‘freely and frankly,’’’ Mr. Otaño wrote in his response, citing a 2005 case in which the New York Times was denied information by the FDNY.
Eric Koch, a spokesman for Ms. Mark-Viverito, responded to a request for comment with a statement.
“Last year, the Council passed widely-praised rules reforms which have made the body more open and transparent than it has ever been and this is just part of the administrative proceedings for FOIL requests,” he wrote. “We take FOIL very seriously and are confident the determinations made were correct in the letter and the spirit of the law.”
The rules reforms were a centerpiece of Ms. Mark-Viverito’s 2014 campaign for Speaker among her colleagues, and included a provision that a proposal with a super-majority of supporters must receive a hearing within 60 days.
Mayor de Blasio strongly opposed raising the disability benefits, and hearings were held on the matter in May after he issued a counter-proposal that Mr. Cassidy and Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick J. Lynch called unacceptable. Both claimed they were blindsided by the proposal, which they were informed of minutes before it was made public.
Better But Not Equal
It would have raised benefits considerably for new hires who were injured shortly after joining the force, but provided just a marginal improvement for those disabled at the end of their careers. City actuaries estimated that the Mayor’s proposal would cost $47 million through Fiscal Year 2019.
Last year, then-City Actuary Robert C. North Jr. pegged the extension of Tier 2 benefits at $35 million in Fiscal Year 2015 alone. His estimate was called into question by the unions because it was based on a 10-year period that included the unusually-high number of disability pensions filed in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.
The Council passed Mr. de Blasio’s proposal but it was not incorporated into the omnibus bill that ended the legislative session in June. Both Governor Cuomo and key legislators pressed for the union-backed bill, which ultimately faltered because it never got a home-rule message.
Mr. Cassidy pledged to launch his drive for higher disability benefits again next year, noting that Governor Cuomo supported his efforts.
‘This is a Big Deal’
Fredrick Whynn, a Firefighter who attended the rally, said he and his colleagues came out because they feared for their financial health if they were permanently injured.
“Firefighters in New York City for somewhere around a hundred years never had to worry about what would happen if we get disabled performing our duties in the line of service. So this is a big deal. We definitely need parity and equalization as far as the disability benefit. Fifty percent is sub-par.”
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