Sick time boost for rescuers

GOV. CUOMO signed legislation on Monday granting unlimited sick time to any government employee in New York who became ill from working at the World Trade Center rescue and recovery effort.

The bill, which was passed by the Legislature earlier this year, allows rescue and recovery workers who now work for government entities outside New York City to receive the same benefits already offered to city cops, firefighters, correction officers and sanitation workers.

“They will get vacation coverage and sick coverage at no cost to themselves because they paid, literally, with their health to help New Yorkers, and the State of New York is going to be there for them 100%," Cuomo said.

Cuomo signed the bill at the Jacob Javits Center, where more than 600 motorcycle riders had stopped for lunch as part of a memorial ride to the World Trade Center. Cuomo met them after stopping by the FDNY’s Rescue 1 station in Hell’s Kitchen with actor Robert De Niro to greet firefighters. De Niro joined the governor at the lunch.

“It feels good to be in a room full of people you can depend on,” De Niro said. “People who will do the right thing, the heroic thing.”

Cuomo then joined the bikers for the last leg of their voyage to the World Trade Center site, riding his 2011 HarleyDavidson that’s been customized with the state seal.

Riding beside Cuomo on a three-wheeled bike was Sal Turturici, an EMT who spent weeks on the Pile and was diagnosed with cancer. They met last year on Sept. 11, when Turturici told Cuomo there was an eligibility deadline to qualify for threequarter pensions for first responders who later became sick — and that he’d been diagnosed after the deadline. The governor went on to sign legislation that extended the period for workers and volunteers seeking lost wage and medical benefits to apply.

In the year since, Turturici learned to ride the threewheeled motorcycle so he could ride alongside Cuomo at the head of the 600-rider group. His wife, Wendi, rode on his back seat.