Breaking the EMS cycle

To the editor:

Here's another example of the FDNY Emergency Medical Services' (EMS') thorny labor relations with NYC officials.  This latest lawsuit came about because the Eric Adams administration, in the face of an ambulance response time crisis, plugged young firefighter cadets destined to leave EMS for firefighting, into an EMT training class, ahead of applicants who wanted to be Emergency Medical Technicians. 

Stonewalled FDNY EMS unions have used lawsuits to get wage relief and justice for their members before.  But the lessons of losing litigation appear lost as city officials come and go.

 In the Bloomberg administration, EMS employees sued because they had been denied promotions because of their gender.  It took seven years, until 2013, for the million dollar case, including attorneys' fees, to be settled in their favor.  

Five years later in the de Blasio administration, a New York State law was finally signed creating a civil service promotion process called for by the EMS unions.

In another case in the Bloomberg administration, the EMS unions sued the city for not paying EMTs and paramedics correctly.  Six years later, there was a unanimous jury decision in their favor. 

But the de Blasio administration appealed, and EMS staff waited until the Adams' administration for the city to figure out what they were owed.  The bill to city taxpayers was $7.2 million in backpay, $7.2 million in damages and $3.3 million for the EMS worker's attorneys' fees. 

In 2022, the FDNY EMS unions filed a wage discrimination lawsuit.  Based upon a US Justice Department E.E.O.C. determination, it asserted that any difference in the work between FDNY firefighting and EMS actually justifies equal pay for EMS, given the skills, effort, and risks involved in EMS work. 

 Determined to be a "class action" lawsuit, and similar to EMS contract negotiations, the city is dragging it out.  Will Mayor Mamdani break the cycle?

Helen Northmore