By ALFREDO ALVARADO

In January 2000, EMS Captain Scott Fried received great news from the City’s Office of Payroll Administration. A letter from OPA said he was due a refund of $177.48 for the Social Security and Medicare tax that the city mistakenly deducted from his pay and sent to the federal government while he was on leave recovering from on-the-job injuries.

Mr. Fried’s contract as a member of Uniformed Emergency Medical Service Officers Local 3621 provides a line-of-duty injury (LODI) benefit, which grants full salary with no loss of sick leave or annual leave time.

The city believes such LODI payments to members of the uniformed services should be tax-free, just like Workers’ Compensation.

It’s been almost four years since he received that letter, and Mr. Fried, who has written several letters of his own and made dozens of calls, has still not received his refund.

Due to another injury he sustained in 2000, the Internal Revenue Service now owes him over $1,000. “If I am owed over $1,000 for my job injuries, then there have to be other union members in our local and across the country who are in a similar situation,” said Mr. Fried.

Under repeated questioning from Mr. Fried, Local 3621, DC 37 attorneys and, presumably, many other city workers, the city Law Dept. went to court July 10 against the federal government to seek a refund of the back taxes. The city lawsuit demands reimbursement of the Social Security and Medicare taxes that have been paid since 1989 by uniformed service workers on LODI leave. The suit also seeks refunds of the city’s matching tax payments.

According to Law Dept. spokesperson Kate O’Brien Ahlers, the amount in question, with interest, could easily reach a total of $100 million. “It’s incredible that IRS has taken so long to deal with this issue, in some cases up to six years,” said Donald Rothschild, president of Local 3621.

“If OPA and the IRS had worked together, we might not have this problem,” he added. DC 37 attorney Kim Hsueh recommends that members of Locals 2507 and 3621 who have been on leave due to injuries on the job (LODI) since 1989 submit claim forms to the Office of Payroll Administration at One Centre St. Room 200N, New York, NY 10007.