Flaw in state volunteer firefighters workers` compensation system
T. Michael Nicholson
Victor, New York
In 1972, six months after I became an active member of the Bushnell`s Basin (NY) Volunteer Fire Department, I was struck by a car while directing traffic at a fire scene. I was only 17 years old. My injuries included two broken legs, a fractured skull, a stroke, collapsed lungs, and numerous internal injuries. I was in a coma for three and a half weeks.
Awarded $80 per week from the Volunteer Firefighters Workers` Compensation Board, I was expected to go on with my life and be glad that I was alive.
I tried in vain to live a normal life. After I got out of the hospital, it took me an extra three years just to finish high school. Then I tried to work. From 1975 until 1992, I had 27 jobs. A neuropsychologist said I suffered lasting effects from my traumatic brain injury (TBI). Apparently, this went undiagnosed because today`s technology wasn`t available then. I was told that I had emotional discontrol because of the constant pain (which I still have) in my back, legs, and feet. Overstimulation is also a problem, and I have long- and short-term memory dysfunction. I have learned different methods for coping with my TBI.
Since 1972, I have been suffering with my physical limitations as well as the TBI. I was still receiving $80 per week from the Volunteer Firefighters Workers` Compensation Board of New York State. I thought this was unfair. Research revealed that compensation benefits for permanently disabled volunteer firefighters are locked into the year in which they received the injury. Since I was injured in 1972, my benefit rate was set at $80 per week. A volunteer firefighter injured in 1992, however, would be locked into a payment of $400 per week.
I went before the workers` compensation law judge in 1993 with information from my physicians about my newly diagnosed TBI, which was not documented in my file. The judge said I was not entitled to any more money. He then said, “If you want to do anything about this, then change the workers` compensation law.”
I later met with a local state assemblyman and a state senator, and we drafted a bill that would authorize and direct the workers` compensation board of New York to redetermine my disability benefit as if I had been injured on or after July 1, 1992, the last time benefits were raised.
I was told I was grasping at straws, that nothing like this had ever been attempted, and that chances of the bill`s getting out of the Assembly and Senate committees for a vote and being signed by the governor were slim to none. Numerous people told me to give up.
I wrote letters to Senate and Assembly committee members who would consider the bill and to every member of the legislature asking them to support my personal bill. I spoke before numerous town and village boards and county legislatures all across the state asking for resolutions supporting my bill and received backing from the Fireman`s Association of the State of New York, which strongly lobbied for it.
With all this backing, plus the unanimous bipartisan support in both state legislative bodies, my personal bill (dealing specifically with my case) was passed and signed by Governor George Pataki. Later, I successfully lobbied for legislation to benefit specifically the 28 to 33 permanently and totally disabled emergency service workers in New York with similar situations. This law orders the state workers` compensation board to redetermine the disability benefits of these individuals as if they were injured on or after July 1, 1992. The benefit lock is not eliminated; it still exists!
Encouraged by this success, I researched the volunteer firefighter disability laws in other states.
Workers` compensation laws vary from state to state. Some offer volunteers the same disability coverage as a career firefighter in a neighboring community. Other states offer no disability benefits at all for volunteer firefighters injured in the line of duty because it`s perceived to be a no-loss job: Since volunteers aren`t paid, they haven`t lost any wages.
In some states, workers` compensation is optional, and fire departments are not required to buy into workers` compensation. When workers` compensation does cover volunteers, some states limit that coverage: Some cover volunteers only for official duties at the scene of an emergency but deny benefits to those injured in training or fund-raising events.
Some states include cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs); some don`t. Some pay a lump sum, some pay a percentage ranging from 40 to 100 percent of pre-injury wages, and some benefits are paid for a limited amount of time; others are paid for the duration of the disability. Is this just?
Volunteer firefighters save taxpayers $36.8 billion each year. Without them, citizens would have to rely on paid firefighters from the cities to answer calls in the rural communities.
People in the United States believe it is their right to receive automatic help from the volunteer fire department or emergency medical service from the volunteer ambulance squad just down the street. They often don`t remember that these people are volunteering to help with no expectation of monetary reward.
Federal legislation should mandate fair and updated disability benefits for each state`s volunteer firefighters. These dedicated people save lives and property in every community across the United States. They deserve our appreciation and our protection.
I hope that my story will inspire other volunteer firefighters to fight for the benefits they deserve.
The current volunteer firefighter disability system in the United States is a complete joke. If people expect volunteer firefighters to respond when they call for help, they in turn should respond to volunteer firefighters` plea when they have been injured.
Nobody is indestructible. Let`s wake up and realize that there is a chance for serious and permanent injury every time we re-spond to a fire/EMT call.
