By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

In the 10 years that John Mancuso was a Paramedic for the Emergency Medical Service, he took one vacation, accumulated nine-and-a-half months of unused sick time and maintained perfect attendance for six years.

The day after his 42nd birthday, Mr. Mancuso hurt his back while working. Eleven months later, as he was scheduled to appear before its medical review board, the Fire Dept. assigned Mr. Mancuso to modified duty. He was glad to be back at work.

Five days later, he was terminated.

“It’s been so aggravating, my head is spinning,” Mr. Mancuso said.

And he is not alone. Records show that in recent years the Fire Dept. routinely ignored the reasonable accommodation requests of more than 100 EMS workers who were injured on the job, firing them instead.

On March 20, District Council 37 filed suit in New York State Supreme Court against the city, the Fire Dept., and its commissioner. The lawsuit charges that by terminating injured Paramedics and EMTs, management is violating city and state human rights laws, the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Get hurt, get terminated

FDNY offers injured EMS workers short-term stints in Communications, Telemetry or Prison Health Care, followed by salary cuts, and in the case of Paramedics, permanent demotions — or the door.

After years of dedicated service, injured EMS employees say they need Medicaid, Worker’s Compensation or unemployment insurance to survive.

“The Fire Department’s actions are illegal and unconscionable,” said Patrick Bahnken, president of EMS Employees Local 2507.

“These workers make a tremendous sacrifice for the residents of this city,” he said, “but if they lose their health, they’re treated like fossil fuel — burned up and cast aside.”

The lawsuit alleges the FDNY failed to offer reasonable accommodations, as the law requires, to nine EMS employees disabled by work-related injuries, in effect yanking career ladders out from under them. The suit says members were put on permanent involuntary medical leave without the notification or due process required by the state civil service law.

Previously, DC 37 fought to protect members’ rights with an improper practice petition filed Feb. 14 with the Office of Collective Bargaining to challenge FDNY’s unwillingness to negotiate with the union on its policy toward injured employees. The next day, Locals 2507 and 3621 filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charging FDNY with systematic discrimination against disabled workers.

In 1999, after an earlier union suit, FDNY reinstated a number of terminated employees with back pay, but refused to negotiate a reasonable accommodation policy. Instead, it unilaterally issued its own policy, which fails to comply with its legal obligations, Mr. Bahnken said.

“Second-class citizens”

“It’s clear FDNY is not negotiating with us because they don’t see us as equals,” said Donald Rothschild, president of EMS Lieutenants and Captains Local 3621. “After 18 months, qualified people with years of service are denied light duty because the department views them as second-class citizens.”

Two years ago when EMT Richard DelMonico showed signs of carpal tunnel syndrome, FDNY placed him on LODI (line of duty injury), 18 months of light work.

Mr. DelMonico’s longstanding reasonable accommodation request went unanswered, and when his LODI expired in November, he was let go. “The situation has definitely strained my marriage,” he said.

While pressing FDNY for a systematic solution that would bring justice to EMS workers injured on the job, the union hopes its litigation will force FDNY to reinstate and accommodate disabled workers like Mr. Mancuso and Mr. Delmonico.

“These EMTs and Paramedics can still participate and are willing to work,” Mr. Bahnken said. “The Fire Department is playing with our lives. It’s immoral.”