Trending Topics

Check Your Insurance ...

We learned a valuable lesson today. A few months ago, one of our firefighters was injured at the scene. He’s self-employed and our insurance has a disability benefit based on the injured person’s salary.

The firefighter makes good money at his job, and he works hard. He’s the kind of guy you’d want backing you up on the line and working for you if you owned a business. Unfortunately, the salary determination on the rider made for a self-employed firefighter is based on the tax statements from the previous year. So, his benefit under our rider, which can range anywhere from nothing to $900 per week, is a measly $40, based on the taxes he paid last year.

So, if you have disability rider on your policy, make sure you understand all of the terms of the rider, for the employed, self-employed and unemployed firefighter. Make sure your personnel understand this as well.

Veteran firefighter Scott Cook writes about the wide range of decisions that effect firefighters every day. His FireRescue1 exclusive column, ‘Firefighter Note to Self,’ will keep you informed about everything from SOGs to firefighting war stories to company officer elections.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU