Photo Courtesy of Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato
“These are our Bravest and it is beyond time that they receive credit for their amazing work,” Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato said.
By Michael V. Cusenza
More than 1,000 City firefighters last week retrieved the ability to buy back pension credits they earned protecting New Yorkers in their previous roles as members of the FDNY Emergency Medical Service.
Thanks to legislation introduced by Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Howard Beach) and included in the recently passed State budget, these members of New York’s Bravest—all of whom were promoted to firefighters from FDNY EMS workers—now have the right to buy back pension time they earned as EMS workers.
Photo Courtesy of Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato
Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato was thanked by members of the FDNY and first responders when her legislation was included in the State budget.
“This is a victory for our firefighters who wake up every day, run towards the emergency, and put their lives on the line to protect us. These are our Bravest and it is beyond time that they receive credit for their amazing work. Having negotiated and advocated for this policy change in the final budget was the right thing to do for our heroes,” Pheffer Amato said.
According to the Uniformed Firefighters Association, while EMS workers are part of the FDNY, they have a different pension system than firefighters and previously those who passed a promotion’s exam to become a firefighter were able to buy back the time they earned. Under a series of tweaks to the pension system in 2009, a glaring inequity was created that made this group of firefighters ineligible to buy back their time as EMS workers. This glitch effectively negated the time they previously earned and extended by years how long they needed to work before becoming retirement-eligible.
“These firefighters spent years performing life-saving and dangerous work as EMS workers and we’re glad this long-standing mistake was finally fixed,” UFA President Andrew Ansbro said. “This is not a new benefit, this is what they earned and what they are owed and I thank Governor Hochul and our friends in the legislature for righting this wrong once and for all.”
