Oh, come on, Blaz!
Pols: Must OK sick time for all 9/11 city workers
City officials are joining a growing chorus demanding Mayor de Blasio approve unlimited sick time for all city employees who helped in the rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero — and are now paying for it with their lives.
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer penned a letter to the mayor Friday, demanding he “implement a citywide policy to allow sick leave for employees in all city job classifications who are sick from 9/11-certified conditions and need time off to see doctors and recover from their illnesses.”
While police, firefighters, correction officers and sanitation workers have been granted unlimited sick leave if they come down with an illness linked to their time at Ground Zero, some 4,000 other city workers — paramedics, EMTs, traffic agents and tow-truck drivers — do not have that option.
City Hall could authorize unlimited sick time to civilian employees diagnosed with a 9/11-related illness but Mayor de Blasio has decided to hash out the particulars in arbitration with union heads — even though EMTs and paramedics are considered uniformed workers by law and should receive the same sick leave cops and firefighters do.
“When the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center happened, our city employees did not review their contracts to determine if they should respond; the city shouldn’t be heartlessly hiding behind contract legalese 17 years later.”
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson agrees. “If you served down at the Pile, served at Ground Zero, you should be afforded all of the care necessary to take care of yourself and your family.”
The mayor’s piecemeal solution has left many city employees a critical choice — work while you’re sick or retire and try to survive on a pension.
Those facing this decision include Linda Mercer, an NYPD civilian traffic agent who was diagnosed with an inoperable 9/11-related cancer after breathing in the toxins around Ground Zero for five months and is struggling to get enough sick days to go to chemotherapy.
“Everyone who responded to 9/11 and its aftermath is a hero, which is why we’re working with unions to come up with a solution that will provide these heroes with the paid sick leave they deserve,” a City Hall spokesman said.