Ease Path for EMS
Deadline Near For 9/11 Disability Aid

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

Rescue workers who were injured, became sick or died during or after the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center site are being urged by the city to file a claim for funds available under the 9/11 Heroes Stamp Act..

TOM EPPINGER: Protected members' rights.

The Act raised $10.5 million in aid by selling a limited edition 9/11 Heroes stamp featuring the image of three firefighters planting an American flag in the rubble of the Twin Towers.

Fund Run by Feds

The fund, administered jointly by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Fire Administration, is now accepting applications from eligible workers or their families. Al Conners, project manager for USFA, said all of the funds received from the Postal Service would be distributed equally among applicants.

The FDNY, along with other city law-enforcement and first-responder agencies, has been alerting its membership about the fund, but hit a paperwork snag with its Emergency Medical Service Bureau.

In a holdover from its days as a separate entity, the EMS Bureau's disability and pension are handled by the New York City Employees' Retirement System, not the Fire Pension Fund. While firefighters are entitled to unlimited sick leave, EMS employees must file Workers' Compensation claims to be paid while out injured or otherwise disabled unless they use their leave balances.

Not Always in Sync

The 9/11 Stamp Act applications require employers to fill out a section stipulating that the worker looking for aid is disabled. For EMS, the employer is NYCERS, which Thomas Eppinger, president of EMS Officers' Local 3621 of District Council 37, immediately realized was going to be a problem when FEMA alerted city agencies to the process last December.

"If [the process] went the route it was going to go, my members would not have been able to participate in this fund," he said.

The EMS bureau has many members who have been declared unfit for duty or given a medical discharge by FDNY doctors, but who have not been given a pension disability award from NYCERS. In some cases the claims were rejected and are being appealed, Mr. Eppinger said, and in other instances the worker had been labeled disabled by FDNY doctors, but had yet to start the lengthy NYCERS pension process.

Doubts About NYCERS

The Act doesn't stipulate that a rescue worker be awarded a disability pension before being able to apply for additional funds. Workers drawing Social Security or Workers' Compensation can apply, but their employer must still write on the application that they are disabled.

With some EMS cases being controverted, and others still pending, Local 3621 feared NYCERS would be reluctant to acknowledge a disability on some applications.

The union turned to the Fire Department, and after a few weeks of meetings between FDNY, FEMA and U.S. Fire Administration officials, a deal was worked out that allowed the department to sign off as the employer on EMS applications.

Deputy Assistant Chief for EMS Operations Jerry Gombo said "there was no question it was a cohesive, team effort. We met with FEMA, came up with an all-inclusive strategy, and the USFA was very open-minded in dealing with us."

The Uniformed Fire Officers' Association, Uniformed Firefighters' Association and numerous law-enforcement unions joined Local 3621 at the final meetings, he said, and were supportive. "It just goes to show you that when there's a set goal, and people work together, you can move mountains," he noted.

Fill in Blanks Later

FEMA also agreed to let disabled EMS workers and firefighters file incomplete applications in order to make the April 3 deadline. Candidates can submit the first two pages of the application, with supporting medical documentation, and indicate on their application that part four will be sent later by the FDNY. The FDNY has pledged to get all the paperwork done by the end of April.

"I'm happy to say that in the end we were able to work things out in a way that puts us on the level of other emergency services like firefighters and the police," Mr. Eppinger said.

Once an application has been approved, FEMA will ask recipients for bank account information to electronically transfer a one-time payment. The fund has a finite amount of money and plans to split it evenly among all approved claims. The fund has projected that if 1,000 applicants were approved, each would get $10,565. If 2,000 were approved, each would get $5,282. To date, FEMA has received 130 applications.

Contact Details

EMS personnel and firefighters wishing to apply should keep a copy of their application for their records, and send a copy of Part IV on page three and a notarized copy of page four to Alex Fisher at the FDNY Legal Office, 8N-5, 9 MetroTech Center, Brooklyn, 11201. Members should write name, address and Social Security number at the top of each page.

Family members of EMS workers or firefighters who were killed on 9/11 or became disabled and subsequently passed away should contact Suzanne Seibert, in the FDNY Family Assistance Unit, at 718-999-1473.

EMS personnel and firefighters who do not get their completed pages three and four returned to them from the FDNY by March 15 should send the rest of their application via certified mail to FEMA with a cover note explaining that the rest will be sent at a later date by the FDNY.