by ARI PAUL
Mayor Bloomberg Nov. 5 signed a bill that expands the Fire Department Pension Fund Medical Board and expedites the processing of disability pension applications for Firefighters and fire officers by adding physicians to hear cases.
The department experienced a significant increase in disability retirement applications after 9/11. Two Council committees noted that in 1999 the department had 404 such applications in 1999, but the figure jumped to 719 in 2003. It briefly dipped to the old level, with 427 applications in 2004, but then skyrocketed to 895 last year. There were 725 applications as of September for 2007. Civil Service and Labor Committee Chairman Joseph P. Addabbo said that many disability pension cases took more than a year.
Backed by Mayor
The bill allows two city Commissioners to appoint three alternative physicians to the Board.
"This Board will allow additional Medical Boards when needed," FDNY Deputy Commissioner of Administration Douglas White said Oct. 24 in testimony before a joint hearing of the Fire and Criminal Justice and Civil Service and Labor Committees. "This was created because we thought it was more efficient."
Both the Uniformed Firefighters Association and the Uniformed Fire Officers Association supported the measure.
The department's push for the legislative change was a concession it made to the UFOA during negotiations for the contact that expired earlier this year.
'Speeds Retirements'
"We're happy about it," said UFOA President John J. McDonnell. "I think the public feeling on it is it will allow people in the retirement pipeline to move along more quickly."
The City Council unanimously passed the bill Oct. 30. Councilman Addabbo had noted during the Oct. 24 hearing that the current language governing the Medical Board had become archaic.
"Intro. No 369-A would replace reference to the Commissioner of Hospitals, which is an old term, with the Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene, and replace the Chief Medical Examiner of the City Civil Service Division, again an old term, with the Commissioner of Citywide Administrative Services," Mr. Addabbo said. "These changes reflect changes in the administrative structure over the years."
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