NYCERS eliminates appeal process for disability benefits

Bruce Hydock didn’t want to retire.

By the time he hung up his gear for good in February, the FDNY EMS captain had already survived testicular cancer and lived with lung ailments for more than a decade, all of it attributed to the time he spent at ground zero following the 9/11 terror attacks. But after a year on medical leave following a kidney cancer diagnosis, the FDNY’s pulmonologist told Hydock a few months ago that he had no choice but to retire, rest and try to heal.

With his lung illnesses — including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that requires him to take a daily dose of steroids and use a continuous positive airway pressure machine every night — two cancers certified as World Trade Center-related and the FDNY forcing him to retire for health reasons, Hydock, 54, was sure that he would qualify for disability retirement benefits through the New York City Employees' Retirement System pension fund. 

But NYCERS in May rejected Hydock’s application for benefits, and under a policy change instituted this year by the retirement system, Hydock can’t appeal the decision or even see the reason the pension system’s officials are denying him.

Before the change, applicants who had been denied NYCERS disability pensions were given a 60-day window to review doctors' notes and file an appeal that could include additional medical information. But NYCERS changed that policy in January, and now Hydock and any other rejected retiree will have to wait a full calendar year to reapply. 

"It's upsetting,” Hydock said. “We were told that these benefits would be there for us."

'We're dying off'

NYCERS did not inform pension beneficiaries, retiree advocates or municipal unions about the policy change, said Gary Smiley, the liaison to the World Trade Center Health Program for the union representing the FDNY’s EMTs, paramedics and fire inspectors. Hydock only found out about the policy change from Smiley, who has been communicating with NYCERS and helping EMTs and paramedics get their benefits for nearly a decade. "I have not been told why I've been denied,” said Hydock.

Smiley found out about the policy change when NYCERS would not let him submit additional medical information after the fund rejected retired EMT and cancer survivor Michael Koenke’s application for disability benefits. “NYCERS no longer accepts additional medical documentation once the Medical Board has reviewed the case,” NYCERS general counsel wrote to Smiley after he requested an appeal on Koenke’s behalf.

Rachel Assisi, NYCERS deputy director of communications, said in an emailed statement that the pension fund's policy changes are "broadly communicated to NYCERS members and retirees across the various available channels."

Smiley, who responded on 9/11 as a rescue paramedic, said that many retirees he’s helped in the past had been approved for benefits on appeal after an initial rejection. “Most of these people don't have 12 months,” he said of those he helps. "This is a finite group of people, we're not growing, and we're dying off.”

Retired corrections officers and sanitation workers could be potentially affected by NYCERS' policy change while firefighters, police officers and teachers all have their own pension funds. A spokesperson for the Corrections Officers Benevolent Association said that the union was not informed of NYCERS' policy change.

Bruce Hydock, whose 9/11-related health issues forced him to retire as an FDNY EMS captain earlier this year, had his disability claim denied. He cannot appeal NYCERS' decision and must wait a year to reapply for the benefit.

Courtesy of Bruce Hydock

'Completely unfair'

Koenke said he filed with NYCERS for disability benefits in 2022 but didn’t have his virtual interview with NYCERS’ doctors until January 2024. He got his rejection Feb. 18 of this year, just a month after NYCERS changed its policy on appeals.

"This is completely unfair and does not align with other pension systems in New York city,” said Koenke, who had a tumor in his bladder removed in January 2022. “Why are FDNY EMS World Trade Center heroes being treated differently than other first responders? I'm not asking for special treatment, I'm asking for a fair process."

Assisi, the NYCERS spokesperson, insisted that NYCERS is committed to delivering high quality service, continually reviews its policies and procedures, and makes changes in accordance with NYCERS rules and applicable laws.

“NYCERS maintains a dedicated team for members applying for World Trade Center disability, providing members with direct guidance and communication throughout the process,” she said in a statement. “NYCERS members with open disability retirement applications (and their representatives) have several direct channels to connect with NYCERS staff to address the submission of any additional medical evidence. NYCERS remains fully committed to processing all disability retirement cases as efficiently as possible and working with our members and external stakeholders towards this goal.”

A spokesperson for City Comptroller Brad Lander, the steward of the city's five pension funds, did not respond to a request for comment.

Retired EMT Linda Avellino is worried that NYCERS will reject her bid for disability benefits as well. She retired in 2017 after 27 years as an EMT and applied for disability benefits following a heart attack and a diagnosis of World Trade Center-related breast cancer in quick succession in 2023.

A widow who supports her son and grandchildren, Avellino said she’s already used up all her savings since getting cancer and said her pension benefit doesn’t cover her expenses. Getting a NYCERS disability benefit “would make it so I don’t have to worry about whether my electric is going to get turned off, or if I’m able to get food on the table for my grandchildren,” she said.

Avellino expects to hear back from NYCERS about her application later this year. Like other applicants for disability benefits, she won’t be able to appeal the decision if she’s rejected.

In the months preceding his retirement, Hydock said it had become impossible to walk up the three flights of stairs to his office without becoming short of breath, a task that was less exerting than his decades working in the field as an EMT.

"I went from running five miles a day, being able to bike 50 miles a day, being able to rock climb, rappel, scuba dive, to now I can’t walk up a flight of stairs without getting short of breath,” Hydock said last week. “I'm 54 years old. That’s not normal."

The retired EMS captain said that the lack of disability benefits has already affected his livelihood “tremendously.” He sold both of his cars and moved in with his in-laws when he retired because his partial pension benefit covers only a fraction of what he made as a captain earning overtime and bonuses on top of his salary.

Unable to work, Hydock was counting on getting hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars a month in disability benefits to make ends meet, but will now have to wait another year to reapply. Social Security benefits could also help, but he must wait eight more years until he can start collecting those funds.

"We really did not think that I would be denied my disability pension,” he said. “How sick do I have to be, and how dead do I have to be to get the benefits? My population is dead or dying. That's the truth of it, we’re dead or we're dying and we’re trying to enjoy what time we have left."