By Rory Lancman and Elizabeth Crowley
Everyday police officers and firefighters rush to respond to 911 calls, racing toward danger to protect us. When firefighters go into a burning building, or cops tackle an active shooter, they do so without a moment’s hesitation, despite the clear risks to their own lives and health. As a city, we should be recognizing and honoring this immense commitment by ensuring that when someone is hurt in the line of duty, they are taken care of.
But right now, we are leaving many of our men and women in uniform out in the cold. If they are injured, firefighters and police officers who were hired after July 2009 receive only 50 percent of their final year’s pay in a disability pension. Anyone hired prior to this date receives a 75 percent pension. It’s ridiculous that we treat new hires differently from older hires, as though their heroism is somehow worth less. This inequality is especially galling given the high number of new hires who are women and people of color.
Officer James Li was a rookie officer in February 2014, when a suspect opened fire on him, shooting Li in both of his legs. Officer Rosa Rodriguez joined the NYPD in 2010 and suffered debilitating injuries in a Coney Island fire in April 2014 that killed her partner. These officers deserve more than lip service toward their sacrifice—they deserve the same pension that officers who joined the force earlier would receive.
Recently, a proposal by Mayor de Blasio that was passed by the City Council purports to fix this problem. We voted “no” because it failed to recognize the service of too many firefighters and cops. Although some would have been eligible for 75 percent of their salaries in pensions, others would still have been forced to rely on just 50 percent of their salaries. More recently enlisted officers would be forced to navigate a more onerous process to qualify for full benefits. If they didn’t qualify, they could be left with less than $10,000 annually, or just $27 per day. That’s not what our men and women in uniform deserve.
We must fix this glaring pension inequality, which is why we support truly equal pensions for all firefighters and police officers, unlike the measure that was previously passed. At a time when our city’s budget is growing, with millions of dollars proposed for new programs, we should not be trying to find cost savings on the backs of our Bravest and Finest.
When we ask firefighters and police officers to risk their lives for us, we do so under a moral obligation to care for them and their families if they get hurt. We cannot settle for a half measure that fails to meet this commitment and must come together to support real, equal pensions.
Firefighters and police officers deserve to know that we will take care of them if they are injured. This isn’t a question of dollars and cents, but one of right and wrong. We need to give all of our uniformed officers the same pensions. It’s simply what their service deserves.
Council member Rory I. Lancman (D-Briarwood)
Chair, Committee on Courts & Legal Services.
Council member Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village)
Chair, Committee on Fire & Criminal Justice Services.
