Relates to disability benefits for NYC fire department members

Title of bill

An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to disability benefits for certain members of the New York city fire department pension fund or the New York city employees' retirement system

Summary of provisions

This legislation would amend the New York State Retirement and Social Security Law to change the calculation of Ordinary Disability Retirement (ODR) and Accident Disability Retirement (ADR) benefits for Tier 3 and Tier 6 members of the Fire Department Pension Fund and uniformed members of the Department of Correction in the New York City Employees' Retirement System. Specifically, this legislation:

*Provides an accident disability benefit equal to three-quarters of Final Average Salary (FAS) *Defines FAS as an average of wages earned over a five-year period *Excludes certain lump sum payments from the definition of wages *Includes presumptive disability provisions for certain diseases *Removes the Social Security Offset from disability benefits *Includes Tier 2 Cost-of-Living Adjustment provisions *Requires that eligible members contribute an additional three percent of wages

Reasons for support

The City of New York deeply appreciates the service of its uniformed employees. Our City's heroes need strong disability protections in light of the dangers they face on a daily basis.

The City also needs a pension system that doesn't unfairly burden taxpayers. That is why the City worked closely with public employee unions representing New York City Firefighters and Correction Officers to craft this legislation, which would allow the uniformed employees they represent to receive an accident disability pension equal to three-quarters of FAS. This legislation represents a responsible compromise plan that ensures that our brave uniformed men and women would receive coverage in the event of tragic injury, while protecting taxpayers from exorbitant pension costs. The City looks forward to working closely with public employee unions representing other uniformed titles to reach an agreement that would extend the same disability protections to their employees.

This legislation modifies the disability laws put in place by New York State in 2009 and 2012, but stops short of a complete rollback of the Governor's pension reforms that the Legislature passed and the Governor signed a few years ago. It recognizes that our uniformed employees must have disability benefits which protect them and their families in the event of injury while performing their job duties. The bill also recognizes the increasing costs of public employee pensions, currently over $9 billion annually in the non-discretionary portion of the City's budget, which has an impact on the City's ability to deliver vital services to its residents. This common sense compromise plan agreed upon by the City and public employee unions honors our heroes while preserving fiscal responsibility for New York City and, therefore, should be adopted by the Legislature.

Fiscal impact

See fiscal note

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately