By FireRescue1 Staff
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A firefighter who suffered an on-duty heart attack earlier this year has been refused worker’s compensation.
The Syracuse firefighter’s union stated Bill Adsitt, 55, was denied a disability claim following a quadruple bypass surgery he had in February.
The city, in turn, hired a doctor who determined the bypass was an “elective procedure,” and stated that the heart attack could have been a result Adsitt’s smoking and history of high blood pressure.
Although his health insurance covered most of the surgery expenses, Adsitt claims he has lost thousands of dollars worth of pay because he had to use vacation time and sick days to recover from the surgery. He retired last month.
“What if this happens to a fellow with 10 or 15 and the same circumstances? They don’t have the option to retire like me and the city is going to fire them once they run out of sick days,” Adsitt told Syracuse.com.
A state municipal law which provides disability pay for firefighters hurt on the job also covers firefighters forced to retire due to injury. However, the city cut the law’s budget by 68 percent from 2015 to 2016.
Union President Paul Motondo plans to file a grievance on behalf of the union regarding the city’s refusal to pay Adsitt’s worker’s compensation. The union is also considering holding a “no confidence vote” for Syracuse Fire Chief Paul Linnertz, who denied Asditt’s claim.
“This has turned us upside down,” Motondo said. “We go places no one else wants to go. This puts in the back of our minds, ‘What happens if I get hurt?’”