Governor Cuomo signed a bill on Sept. 11, 2017, providing unlimited sick time for first-responders with World Trade Center-certified illnesses who work for the state or for local governments outside New York City. Historically, New York City, like other municipalities, offers that “line-of duty” unlimited-sick-time benefit exclusively to uniformed workers such as police officers and firefighters.
The bill’s sponsors, State Sen. Martin Golden and Assemblyman Peter Abbate, hoped that by creating sick time-parity they would provide an economic safety net for civilian 9/11 responders who faced prolonged battles with a myriad of WTC-related conditions. However, the Senate Civil Service and Pensions Committee heard testimony at a hearing Sept. 17 from state and local 9/11 responders with WTC-certified conditions that despite the bill they were being denied the unlimited-sick-time benefit by their agencies.