By Marvin Bethea
The Times Union
Copyright 2007 The Hearst Corporation
All Rights Reserved
NEW YORK — With a stroke of his veto pen denying appropriate benefits to nine EMTs and paramedics who were employed by hospitals when they rushed down to the World Trade Center to save lives on 9/11, Gov. Eliot Spitzer sent a chilling message that they were somehow not as heroic as their city-employed counterparts. The state Senate righted this wrong by unanimously overriding Spitzer’s veto last week. Now it’s up to the Assembly to do the same when it returns to Albany today.
These nine people - four of whom died on the scene, five of whom are permanently disabled - worked for not-for-profit hospitals that are an integral part of the New York City Fire Department’s 911 emergency response system.
But because they are not technically city employees, Spitzer followed in the embarrassing footsteps of his Republican predecessor and vetoed a bill that would provide these heroes the same benefits afforded to others who lost their lives or livelihoods performing the same selfless acts on behalf of public entities.
P>If these dead or disabled hospital employees were New York City employees, state law would provide a disability pension benefit equaling three quarters of their salary on Sept. 11, 2001. Yet, despite performing the same exact duties, state law and policy limit the benefit for the hospital employees to a $400 a week maximum workers’ compensation benefit, because they are not eligible to join the city pension system.
How similar are the duties that these nine performed to those performed by city-employed first responders?
These ambulances and their crews operate under strict regulations and standards of conduct for the EMS command and imposed by FDNY, including “perform all duties directed by the Fire Commissioner; comply with all FDNY rules regulations, polices, procedures, and protocols; render hospital emergency care if flagged down regardless of the status of the unit; render pre-hospital emergency care to resuscitate, stabilize, extricate, remove, and transport the patient. ...”
This legislation was so far from controversial that a State Legislature rife with partisanship passed the bill unanimously earlier this year. Yet, despite this uncommon show of unity, Spitzer vetoed the bill, saying it “would create an anomaly in the Workers Compensation Law and compensate these employees with a higher rate of workers compensation benefits than the public employee first responders.”
Even if that were true, the creation of anomalies to accommodate victims of 9/11 has appropriately been recognized time and again. The Legislature enacted laws to extend the deadline for filing workers’ compensation claims related to 9/11; provided benefits to domestic partners of victims of 9/11; and allowed volunteers at ground zero to file workers compensation claims despite the fact that they had no actual employer. Spitzer’s veto message further says the bill strains to replicate the public employee benefit. Rather, the bill uses the workers’ compensation system, which provides for permanent benefits for the disabled and survivors of the deceased.
Paramedics and EMTs, whether public or private-sector employees, are first responders with a duty to rescue and to heal.
They are unlike other private-sector employees or volunteers who selflessly weighed in on 9/11 because they are obligated by law and professional license to risk their lives. All first responders should be compensated with the same standard for their deaths and disabilities.
The Senate voted 60-0 to override the governor’s veto. I strongly urge the Assembly to finish the job it started when it passed this legislation. Help the “9-11 Nine” and our families get on with our lives.
Marvin Bethea was a paramedic and EMT for 25 years before retiring in 2002 because of injuries he suffered on 9/11.