St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A firefighter who has battled the Community Fire District after suffering severe injuries while on duty eight years ago is entitled to earn her full pay while she continues to recover, the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled this week.
Cindy Schuenke, now 50, worked as a firefighter and paramedic for the Community District in north St. Louis County for seven years before a fire call on March 29, 2006, changed her life and left her unable to work.
The union contract in effect at the time of Schuenke’s injury provided that an employee who is unable to work because of an on-duty injury is entitled to a leave of absence for the duration of his or her recovery, her attorney Lynette Petruska said Wednesday at a news conference to discuss the latest court ruling. During that time, Schuenke was entitled to her regular pay — which in 2006 was $84,000 a year — minus any amount she got through worker’s compensation.
The district fired Schuenke in July 2008, but after the news broke about her termination, the district reinstated her — meaning she was back on the payroll — in September 2008, said Petruska.
But the district changed its worker’s compensation benefit in subsequent negotiations, and Schuenke was fired again in August 2009, Petruska said. A circuit court ruled that Schuenke had to be reinstated in November 2013, and that’s the decision upheld in the recent court of appeals ruling.
District Attorney Neil Bruntrager, who did not handle the appeal, declined to comment about the decision, saying the district was still exploring further legal options.
Schuenke was injured in a fire at the Vinita Terrace home of Geneva Rooks, 76, the mother of a fellow firefighter. When Schuenke and her partner went inside to search for her, the floor collapsed, sending Schuenke into the basement. She got caught under debris, was burned and shocked by a broken electrical wire until she broke free and escaped out of a window. Rooks died in the fire.
Since then, Schuenke has had 96 surgeries, many of them on her left hand, which doctors wanted to amputate. Her medical bills have totaled more than $1.5 million, which has been covered by insurance.
Schuenke, who said firefighting is in her blood, said the hope of one day being able to return to the job she loved is what has kept her going.
But the reality of the situation, Petruska said, is that Schuenke is permanently disabled and will never be able to return to work.
At the news conference at Petruska’s office Wednesday, Schuenke broke down several times, talking about the physical and emotional ramifications of her injuries.
“My life’s changed; I was very active, always helping out somebody or playing softball, soccer, hunting, fishing,” she said. “I don’t do any of it any more. I can’t tie a fishing line. It gets really cold out there hunting to where I can’t stand it, my fingers hurt so bad.”
She said she has struggled financially, and if it hadn’t been for several fundraisers, she would have lost her house and car.
Petruska said the Community District has repeatedly breached a promise to take care of Schuenke.
“If we say, ‘Thank for your service,’ but when you’re hurt we say, ‘Hit the road, you’re yesterday’s trash, we’re not going to give you what we promised you,’ we’re not really showing a whole lot of thanks for that service and the risk and the sacrifices that she made,” Petruska said.
A worker’s compensation case regarding Schuenke’s level of pay is still pending against the district.
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