City Hall – The New York City Council on Tuesday will vote on a legislative resolution seeking to provide equal benefits to members of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) who are diagnosed with disabilities caused by cancer. This change would give members of the FDNY the same benefits as other fire fighters in New York.

The Council will also vote on a legislative resolution seeking to allow members of the New York Police Department (NYPD) to extend their pension benefits back from their time as cadets.

Parity for FDNY Members

Preconsidered SLR S.5246-A / A.7716-A, sponsored by Council Member Andrew Cohen, would seek to provide parity for members of FDNY to other fire departments across the state of New York by providing a five-year lookback window for retirees who are diagnosed with lymphatic, digestive, hematological, urinary, neurological, breast, reproductive or prostate cancer or melanoma with the same presumption of evidence for disability benefits.

Pension Extension for NYPD Members

Preconsidered SLR S.5903-A / A.7620-A, sponsored by Council Member Andrew Cohen, would allow certain members of the New York city police pension fund to receive a membership date in the New York city police pension fund attributable to service in the titles of police cadet program or police cadet program II in the New York city police department cadet program. Members of the New York Cadet corps are eligible to join the New York City Employee Retirement System. Cadets that served prior to 2012 were unfairly denied the opportunity to join NYCERS when they served in the Cadet Corps. As a result, these cadets not only lost out on the opportunity to receive pension credits, but those who went on to become police officers after July 1, 2009, were denied the opportunity to become Tier 2 members of the police pension system, and instead were placed in either Tier 3 or Tier 3R of that system, both of which provide reduced benefits. This legislation seeks to correct this inequity.    

“I am very pleased that the Council is meeting today to take up these two Home Rule messages. Both of these pieces of legislation concern equity issues related to New York’s City’s bravest & finest. The first home rule creates a five year look back related to cancer affecting retirees of the FDNY. The second home rule corrects an injustice related to membership in the New York State retirement system for a small group of NYPD officers. I am thankful for Speaker Johnson’s leadership on this matter, and for my colleagues at City Council for always looking out for our first responders,” said Council Member Andrew Cohen.

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