Fire Chief Dismissed After Applying For Ground Zero Health Benefits
Guest post by Stan Wicks
A small city in upstate New York has been under a cloud of controversy after denying fire chief, Russell Brooks, the benefits he needs for cancer treatments. His illness was the result of working recovery efforts at Ground Zero. Some are speculating the move is political retribution for the chief’s son’s pending lawsuit against the city.
Perhaps this is what the city’s former mayor meant when he once declared the city “a stinking, rotten town.”
According to local media reports, the story goes like this: Brooks, a 40-year career firefighter and United States Marine Corps veteran, has served as chief of the Utica Fire Department (UFD) in upstate New York for the past 13 years.
As part of his job duties, Brooks and a contingent from the fire department traveled to Manhattan in the days after 9/11, spending a week assisting with rescue and recovery efforts. They brought equipment and gear with them from the UFD.
The result, according to Brooks, is that he’s been battling cancer for several years after inhaling toxic fumes and handling dangerous materials at Ground Zero. This compelled Brooks to apply for health benefits under state law which cover illnesses and injuries incurred while in the performance of one’s job.
Furthermore, according to state statutes, an individual hired by a paid department that develops certain types of cancer while in their employ, is presumed to have incurred the illness as a result of their job duties. It is called “presumptive cancer coverage.”
The law is clear here – Brooks developed his illness in the service of the UFD, and it is therefore the municipality’s responsibility to cover it as a work-related illness.
The city disagrees. Two-term Democratic Mayor Robert Palmieri waited five months to even respond to Brooks’ application. At that juncture, Palmieri and his attorneys summoned Brooks to City Hall, summarily dismissed him from the service, had him turn in his radio and keys, instructed him not to represent himself as Chief to anyone, and placed him on administrative leave. This administrative leave requires Brooks to take sick time.
“It’s immoral and inappropriate,” Brooks told Syracuse.com. “I don’t have a good relationship with the mayor, and this is just a way to get rid of me. It’s all political.”
City officials for their part haven’t commented due to “pending personnel matters.” Palmieri though, has denied it was a political move.
This should raise serious concerns, however. First being the city’s claim that Brooks wasn’t in New York City on work-related duties. This can easily be dismissed since there was no denial of any request to go to NYC in the aftermath of 9/11, and no disciplinary action taken for using city equipment.
Second, the mayor might have reversed himself, having been quoted as saying “(Brooks) is still the chief.”
Finally, it must be asked of the mayor: Is this retribution for the Chief’s son, John Brooks – who is a firefighter-paramedic for the UFD – requesting a religious exemption during a dispute over the the younger Brooks’ hair length?
Palmieri for his part has developed a pattern of denying benefits to his city’s first responders. In 2015, Palmieri attempted to deny benefits for the city’s police officers.
Stay tuned for how this story ends.
I love it when people come together and share views. Great site, continue
the good work!
Definitely, what a great site and educative posts, I surely will bookmark your site.Have an awsome
day!
my web page :: http://pharmalitexsketo.net/
Hello There. I found your weblog using msn. That
is a very well written article. I will be sure to bookmark it
and come back to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post.
I’ll definitely return.
Feel free to visit my blog; http://puregreencbd.org/
Great paintings! This is the kind of information that should be shared across
the internet. Disgrace on Google for no longer positioning this post higher!
Come on over and consult with my site . Thank you =)
Feel free to surf to my web site :: Quick Slim Keto Review
Do you mind if I quote a few of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your webpage?
My blog site is in the very same niche as yours and my users
would genuinely benefit from some of the information you provide here.
Please let me know if this ok with you. Appreciate it!
Wow, wonderful blog format! How lengthy have you ever been blogging
for? you made blogging glance easy. The overall glance of
your web site is great, as well as the content!
Just want to say your article is as amazing. The clearness to
your submit is simply spectacular and that
i can think you’re knowledgeable in this subject. Fine together with your permission let me to snatch your feed to
keep up to date with coming near near post. Thank you 1,000,000
and please keep up the rewarding work.
First off I want to say great blog! I had a quick question that I’d like
to ask if you do not mind. I was curious to find out how you
center yourself and clear your head prior to writing.
I have had trouble clearing my mind in getting my ideas out.
I truly do take pleasure in writing but it just seems
like the first 10 to 15 minutes tend to be wasted simply just trying to
figure out how to begin. Any ideas or hints? Thanks!
Greetings! I’ve been following your web site for a while now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Atascocita Texas!
Just wanted to mention keep up the good job!
Here is my blog … Vigor Testo Reviews
I got this web page from my friend who shared with me concerning this site and at the moment this time I am visiting this web page and reading very informative posts at this place.
One should please remember the target customer with his fantastic views towards a selected style, before choosing the piece of furniture with the store.
With the help of these oils, you will feel more relax after a massage.
Individuals looking to be a certified massage therapist will likely need to
finish a thorough educational training program.
I think the admin of this web site is really working hard in support of his website, for the reason that here every data is quality based
material.
Here is my site Vigor Testo Pills
hey there and thank you for your information –
I have certainly picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise several technical points
using this website, as I experienced to reload the web site lots of
times previous to I could get it to load properly. I had been wondering
if your web host is OK? Not that I am complaining, but slow
loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and could damage your
quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords.
Well I am adding this RSS to my email and could look out for a
lot more of your respective exciting content. Make sure you update
this again very soon.
Wow, amazing weblog format! How lengthy have you ever been running a blog for?
you make blogging look easy. The entire look of your website
is fantastic, let alone the content material!
my web-site … InstaWatt Review
Hello just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your content seem to be
running off the screen in Firefox. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do
with internet browser compatibility but I thought I’d
post to let you know. The design and style look
great though! Hope you get the issue resolved soon. Kudos
my website – Nu Vigor Testo Review
This is my first time visit at here and i am genuinely pleassant
to read everthing at one place.
You may need to place a little towel through your feet throughout the
massage to avoid spilling the oil on to your clothes or bedding.
With the help of these oils, you feel more relax
after a massage. Individuals looking to become a certified massage therapist should complete a
thorough educational training program.
Greetings! This is my 1st comment here so I just
wanted to give a quick shout out and say I truly enjoy reading your articles.
Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that go over the same subjects?
Thanks!
Hello there I am so glad I found your webpage,
I really found you by accident, while I was looking on Yahoo for something else,
Anyways I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a tremendous
post and a all round enjoyable blog (I also
love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read it all at the minute but I have saved it and also added
your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a great deal more, Please do keep up the superb job.
Hi there to all, for the reason that I am in fact keen of reading this website’s post
to be updated regularly. It consists of fastidious information.
I think that what you posted made a great deal of sense.
But, consider this, suppose you typed a catchier title? I ain’t saying your
information isn’t good, but suppose you added a post title
to possibly get a person’s attention? I mean Fire Chief Dismissed After
Applying For Ground Zero Health Benefits is a
little boring. You should look at Yahoo’s front page and note how they
write post titles to grab viewers to open the links.
You might add a related video or a pic or two to get readers excited about
what you’ve written. In my opinion, it could bring your posts a little livelier.
Thanks for sharing such a pleasant thought, paragraph is good, thats why i have read it
entirely
Great article, exactly what I needed.
I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme.
Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?
Plz answer back as I’m looking to construct my own blog
and would like to know where u got this from. many thanks
Wonderful beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your web
site, how can i subscribe for a blog website?
The account helped me a acceptable deal. I were tiny bit familiar of this your broadcast offered vibrant clear concept
Thanks very nice blog!
If you would like to obtain a good deal from this paragraph then you have to apply these strategies to your
won web site.
I’m gone to say to my little brother, that he should also pay a quick visit this weblog
on regular basis to get updated from most up-to-date news update.
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your
sites really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back later.
All the best
It is really a nice and helpful piece of information. I am happy that you just shared
this helpful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this.
Thank you for sharing.
This is the perfect webpage for anybody who wishes to find out
about this topic. You know a whole lot its almost hard to argue
with you (not that I personally will need to…HaHa). You definitely
put a brand new spin on a topic that’s been written about for ages.
Great stuff, just excellent!
Greetings! Quick question that’s entirely off topic. Do you know how to
make your site mobile friendly? My web site looks weird when browsing from my apple iphone.
I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might be able to correct this problem.
If you have any suggestions, please share. Appreciate it!
Feel free to surf to my blog Handle stress