Firefighters and police officers are like brothers who mingle when there is a request from the public and, more recently, when there has been a call for changes to the law regarding partial disability benefits.
“I don’t see any flaws in this law. [House Bill 5188]”House Bill 5188 was supported unanimously by the Legislature during this year’s regular session,” said Huntington Fire Department Capt. Steve McCormick. After passing the House, it was signed by Gov. Jim Justice and will go into effect on June 6.
McCormick is also president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Chapter 289, which represents HFD firefighters, and serves on the advisory board for the Professional Fire Fighters Association of West Virginia (PFFWV).
Behind the theoretical language of the new law there are many behavioral reasons to defend it, including for uniformed police officers who are sworn to protect the public but who, until recently, have had limited protection.
“We had a 30-year-old man who’d been here five or six years, raised a family, and was injured in the line of duty that effectively pushed him out of the profession he wanted to be in. It’s our job to take care of him. He’s now got another job,” McCormick said of the need for partial disability benefits, which extend to firefighters and city police officers.
How the bill was passed
“Unfortunately, we are one of those professions that gets forgotten until we are needed. Every year, we have to go out there. [to the state Capitol, during the legislative session] And remind [legislators] “We’re still here, trying to get benefits and compensation,” said Jason Nicewaner, secretary-treasurer for the PFFWV.
Nicewerner, who has served with the Bridgeport, Clarksburg and, for the past 22 years, Morgantown fire departments, was part of a team of firefighter and municipal police representatives who worked with lawmakers to pass a bill to extend partial disability benefits to members of the West Virginia Municipal Police and Firefighters Retirement System. Previously, the retirement system only provided disability benefits if a member became totally disabled. Partial disability benefits contribute 45 percent of a member’s average monthly compensation for the 12 months before the member became disabled.
Nicewaner said he and former PFFWV Chairman Myron Boggess, who is retired from the Charleston Fire Department, initially “laid a little bit of groundwork” on the need for new legislation during the 2023 regular session.
“This session started right away,” Nicewaner said.
“Nobody wants to become a firefighter or a police officer and then fall off the roof of a building or get shot and find out they have no way to provide for their family. That’s one of the reasons we strongly encouraged them to become firefighters and police officers,” he said. [HB 5188]”
The bill’s lead sponsor was Republican Rep. Geno Chiarelli of Monongalia.
“They put their lives on the line for us every day,” Chiarelli said, “and all we can do is support them and their families if something happens while on duty.”
“I was punished for doing my job.”
Here are some reasons and real-life examples why supporters of HB 5188 feel current law falls short.
“To give a few examples: [talking to legislators]”I just didn’t think it was fair,” Nicewaner said. “If you’re on a roof during a building fire, unfortunately, you fall off the roof and break your spine and you’re in a wheelchair. But you can go to Walmart and work as a receptionist and make the minimum amount that Social Security allows. [But] So I go out there to do my job, I sacrifice my time, my body, everything, and then I get punished for getting nothing.”
In addition to extending partial disability benefits, HB 5188 provides that if you are unable to “satisfactorily” perform your current job duties and are determined to be partially disabled, you may receive 45% of your total compensation for the past 12 months.
“As we all know, many of our emergency responders are working overtime out of necessity, so they will be able to receive not just their base pay, but 45 percent of their total compensation over the past 12 months,” House Minority Leader Shawn Hornbuckle said.
Republican Rep. Margitta Mazzocchi, of Logan, left, speaks with Ryan Marks, vice president of Charleston’s Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge 74, right, during this year’s regular legislative session on Feb. 6, 2024.
Marks is vice president of Capital City Lodge Chapter 74 of the Fraternal Order of Police in Charleston.
Marks said previous state disability law provisions “made it nearly impossible to receive in-service disability benefits.”
Marks gave the example of a police officer who makes $55,000 a year. If that officer is injured in the line of duty and is able to do work that produces “substantial gainful employment,” an amount previously mentioned in the law set by the Social Security Administration, “they won’t get one cent in disability pay,” Marks said.
Marks said his monthly salary of $1,550 meets the criteria for substantial gainful activity (SGA), which is also outlined on the Social Security Administration’s website: You must be unable to engage in SGA to qualify for disability benefits.
“The job can be anywhere in the state, whether it’s in close proximity to where you work or live,” Marks said. “For example, if I live in Huntington and there’s a job that will take me to Martinsburg, I can’t get benefits.”
Marks said this prompted him to visit the lodge’s FOP president, Steve Meadows, and the state FOP lodge to begin filling in the holes in the regulations, a journey that ultimately culminated in legislation during the 2024 regular session that would see both police officers and firefighters participate in the same retirement plan and begin working together to initiate reforms.
“Agencies across the country, and especially here in West Virginia, are struggling with staffing shortages,” said Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwerdtfeger. “That’s a big reason why the Chiefs Association supported this bill — again, to do the right thing, but it’s certainly going to have an impact elsewhere.” [For an example:] “Recruitment and Retention”
Schwerdtfeger, a Marshall County native who returned to his hometown after retiring as deputy chief with the Albemarle County Sheriff’s Department and serving as president of the West Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, visited the state Capitol during the regular legislative session this year to speak in support of HB 5188.
The new law expands benefits such as partial disability benefits in the West Virginia Deputy Sheriffs Retirement System and provides competitive hiring options at a time when city police departments are struggling.
Chiarelli said that was part of the conversation when discussions on the bill began.
“I think there’s an extra layer of safety that we can provide for firefighters and police officers to attract new talent to the organization,” Chiarelli said.
Hornbuckle agreed, saying, “It’s about being able to say publicly, ‘I understand the amount of responsibility you have in this job, I understand the amount of sacrifice, but I understand that if you get injured, we’re going to take care of you.'”
“In order to recruit quality candidates, you need to have some protections in place and make them feel like if they get injured on the job, their family will be taken care of,” Marks said. “Everybody I’ve talked to about this, they’re not worried about themselves, they’re worried about their family.”
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