Extend Benefits To Daughter Of 9/11 Detective

By REUVEN BLAU

Det. James Zadroga's young daughter last week became the first surviving family member of a 9/11 first-responder to receive added benefits under newly amended state legislation.

BOLSTERED PROTECTION: Tylerann Zadroga, pictured here with her grandfather, Joe, will receive monthly death benefits for an additional 6-to-11 years due to her father James's death of 9/11-related causes as the result of a new state law.

The Police Pension Fund Board of Trustees April 11 voted to designate Detective Zadroga's Jan. 5, 2006 death a line-of-duty fatality. "Today is a monumental day," said Detectives' Endowment Association President Michael J. Palladino several hours after the vote. "Because here's a guy who was disabled as a result of his 911 assignment - that disability caused his death."

Extends Payment Period

Under legislation signed into law last summer by then-Governor Pataki, 5-year-old Tylerann Zadroga will be getting monthly payments pegged to her father's final average salary that will continue until she turns 18, or 23 if she enrolls in college.

She had been getting disability pension payments worth 75 percent of his average salary. Those benefits were scheduled to stop when she turned 12.

"He's the first one," said Joe Zadroga, referring to his son. "This is what we've been shooting for a while and it finally came through for the baby."

Detective Zadroga's death was the first directly linked by a Medical Examiner - in his case, one in New Jersey - to work done at the World Trade Center, citing toxic exposure suffered while he labored at Ground Zero during the city's rescue and recovery efforts.

The findings pushed uniformed union leaders and many lawmakers to fix a loophole in the 9/11 presumptive disability bill Mr. Pataki signed in June 2005. It granted disability pensions to sick public employees who worked at numerous sites related to Ground Zero, but didn't specify line-of-duty death benefits to the families of workers who passed away after being forced to retire due to 9/11-related health problems.

Met City's Objection

The World Trade Center Death Benefit legislation - also known as the Zadroga bill - signed by Governor Pataki last summer was meant to correct that. But the Bloomberg administration had pointed to a contradiction in the measure's intent and existing state pension laws, which stipulate that line-of-duty pensions are for active members only.

Governor Spitzer recently signed an amendment to the measure to correct that problem, said Mr. Palladino.

"The law allowed the trustees of the police pension fund to consider it and to implement it," he remarked, noting that he is one of those trustees. "This is the first time that any retiree was allowed to come back into the door and be awarded a line-of-duty health pension as a result of his disabling health."

The elder Zadroga said that he hopes Congress passes legislation granting $3 million a year to help other fallen and ailing 9/11 first-responders. "That's very important for uniformed personnel," Mr. Zadroga remarked. "They know that it's a dangerous job for themselves, but they want to know that if something happens to them, their families are going to be taken care of. Most of these people are paying out themselves."