By Philip Messing
The New York Post
NEW YORK — A 25-year veteran FDNY firefighter who lost an estimated $2 million in pension benefits after his firing for using cocaine deserves a less severe penalty, an appeals court has ruled.
Thomas McDougall, 51, should have been allowed to retire and pay an $80,000 fine — one year’s salary — because “the penalty of termination is shocking to the judicial conscience,” the Appellate Division panel ruled Tuesday.
McDougall, who worked at Ladder Company 117 in Astoria, Queens, was fired in 2008 for cocaine use.
The city may appeal.
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