Public Employee Press

Arbitrator burns FDNY on “body part“ injury policy

An arbitrator ruled in November that the unilateral Fire Dept. policy of grouping all injuries to the same body part as one line-of-duty injury violates the contract of Emergency Medical Service workers.

The decision protects the right of EMS employees who experience multiple, separate and unrelated injuries to the same body part on the job to the negotiated benefit of up to 18 months off with full pay for each injury.

Local 2507 member William Delaney hurt his right knee on the job in 1998, returned to work and several years later, in a separate incident, damaged the same knee while carrying a heavy patient down the stairs. Then in 2005, while he was on light duty after surgery for yet another injury to that knee, Delaney got a call from management. “I was told not to come to work the next day. ‘You’re off payroll,’ they said.”

The Fire Dept. lumped together all of Delaney’s knee injuries and unilaterally decided that he had exhausted his 18-month line-of-duty injury (LODI) benefit.

Kicked off the payroll for six months, Delaney went to Local 2507 Grievance Coordinator Jack Schaefer, who handled his grievance with attorneys Len Polletta and Steve Sykes of the DC 37 Legal Dept.

“The Fire Department’s policy negated the employee’s contractual rights,” said Schaefer. The union negotiated the agreement that gave members the LODI benefit in the 1990s, because some 80 to 90 percent of workers at EMS are injured on the job.

The unilaterally imposed “body part” rule worked as follows: A member injures his knee carrying a patient and is out 12 months. Four years later, he breaks his kneecap in a work-related car accident. The member would only have 6 more months of LODI for his knee for a total of 18 months. The union fought this unfair policy by taking Delaney’s grievance to arbitration.

City stalls, family suffers
The city stalled as Delaney and his family suffered. “We couldn’t celebrate the holidays or take vacations. I just did not have the money coming in. Bills piled up. My credit was ruined,” he said.

The city offered Delaney a 75 percent settlement. He refused. “I am not the only person this happened to. The city is counting on people to not fight back,” he added.

The arbitrator followed the standard used by the state Workers’ Compensation Board, which looks at the cause of the ­injury, not the body part, and views each injury separately.

Member nixes buyout
“The city tried to buy out Will Delaney so the case would have no bearing on other cases, but he stood up for himself and for others, and that took tremendous courage,” said Local 2507 President Patrick Bahnken. Delaney’s was the first of 40 grievances the union filed for affected Local 2507 members.

“This is a major win for the local, and I am incredibly grateful for the hard work of the DC 37 attorneys and Mr. Schaefer,” said Bahnken. “This issue is finally resolved with a firm decision that we believe will prevent other members from having to endure this kind of treatment in thefuture.”

“I sometimes ask myself was worth it? Now we have a precedent that provides a safety net for all my union brothers and sisters,” Delaney said.