Families of dead Yarnell Hill firefighters say they're being cheated out of benefits

[adirondacker]

Source: M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News

Families of some of the 19 members of the elite Hotshot crew killed fighting an Arizona wildfire in June bitterly claim they're missing out on millions of dollars in benefits they think they deserve.

NBC News reported last month that the survivors of the 19 firefighters who died June 30 battling the Yarnell Hill Fire are likely to receive a half-million dollars or more in government benefits and private donations.

Under the U.S. Justice Department's Public Safety Officers' Benefits Programs for law enforcement and fire officers injured or killed in the line of duty, each family is eligible for a lump sum payment set by law — which is $328,612.73 this year. Charitable contributions and union programs will add tens of thousands more to that total.

But 13 of the 19 firefighters were classified as seasonal or part-time employees of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew, based in Prescott. That means their families aren't eligible for lifetime monthly survivor benefits, life insurance and health insurance that the families of the six full-time firefighters will get — benefits that could run into several hundred thousand dollars for each of them.





Read more: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/07/19917073-families-of-dead-yarnell-hill-firefighters-say-theyre-being-cheated-out-of-benefits?lite

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Hopefully this will enrage enough people to question whether we should continue to privatize more of our governmental institutions along with questioning the motives of hiring temporary workers within the government. All of these workers deserve full time benefits.

[cstanleytech]

1. On one hand I really think they should get the benefits but on the other hand

surely they were aware of the lack of coverage?

[another_liberal]

2. End privatization of government jobs?

Agreed!

[Niceguy1]

3. this has nothing to do

With privatization..... it is about the difference between permanent full time vs seasonsl employment benefits. I think they soukd get sonething but the city charter makes it difficult. It is common in govt for temps to have no benefits because their employment is temporary and in sime places limited in duration as part of the union contract.

[adirondacker]

4. edited to fix the privitization aspect.

I'm someone who disagrees with the benefits of "temp status" with government positions and think they should change this policy. It's a private company model and is unfair to those that have no choice but to take these positions.

[Niceguy1]

5. I think that

Temps and seasonal have a valid place in govt work..and that they should receive equal death and injury benefit s.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

7. Yep. They're just as dead.

[Scuba]

20. This /\

[tofuandbeer]

10. +1

[Historic NY]

6. They are included under the Hometown Hero's Survivors Benefits Act....

It sometimes takes an exertion on the Bureaucrats to walk it through. Volunteer firefighters are also covered.

"Due to the unprecedented loss of life by public safety officers on September 11, 2001, Congress increased the one time payment to $250,000, retroactive for all eligible deaths on or after January 1, 2001. The payment is adjusted each year on October 1 to reflect the percentage of change in the Consumer Price Index. As of October 1, 2012, the benefit amount is $328,612.73.

A public safety officer is defined to be any individual serving a public agency in an official capacity, with or without compensation, as a law enforcement officer, police, corrections, probation, parole and judicial officer, firefighter, rescue squad member or ambulance crew member. Retroactive to September 11, 2001, chaplains are included in the definition of a public safety officer.

A public agency means an agency of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory or possession of the United States, or any unit of State or local government. Seasonal wildland firefighters are included in this definition. "

http://benefits.firehero.org/psobclaimprocess.html

[DhhD]

8. Glad you posted this.

[adirondacker]

11. Does this cover "temporary employees" for city government? From further down the article...

"The city released some of Ashcraft's employment records to prove that he wasn't a full-time firefighter and had acknowledged in February 2011 that he wasn't eligible for insurance, holidays or "any other benefits not normally granted to temporary employees paid on an hourly basis."

Pete Wertheim, a city spokesman, told WSAZ-TV of Phoenix: "We're delivering everything we can to these families that is available. To equalize somebody's employment classification after the event is simply impossible and illegal."

from your reference...

"The death benefit is payable to a qualified survivor of a Federal employee in addition to death benefits payable to the survivor from the Civil Service Retirement System, the Federal Employees Retirement System, and Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Program under subchapter I of chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code."

[sweetloukillbot]

13. They are eligible for a one-time payment, which I think includes the $250K from the government

But don't get pension payments. I find it annoying that the Republican legislators who have been challenging public unions and complaining about government waste are now screaming loudest for these benefits. And the governor who complains about federal interference in AZ is asking for federal money to pay for the damages.

[adirondacker]

14. Thanks. It would have been nice to see NBC include this information in the article.nt

[Historic NY]

15. Like most pension programs they would have had to been vested...

usually 5 yrs. In NY part-time employees can pay into the system but its a lots less and takes a lot long to accumulate a yr service credit. Only those that paid in will get those benefits.

[kelliekat44]

9. It you don't want the government to privatize, then stop bitching about the government spending too

much money...or paying taxes. Privatization was born of the agenda to take money away from the government and give it to the private sector.

[adirondacker]

12. Uhm I'm hoping this wasn't personal because I think this should probably be addressed to the 10%.

The regressive tax system in this country has overtaxed the middle class and working poor for decades with little return. Property and sales taxes are regressive.

If your talking about raising taxes on the upper class, then I'm all for it, along with expanding government roles in infrastructure, education and research.

[freshwest]

17. Property taxes fund all services. Cut them, no services. The upper class never paid for my services.

The upper classes didn't send their kids to the same school our children attended; didn't need police and emergency services; didn't need the parks, water, sewer, and streets; nor did they need Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.

That is a social contractt made for the middle and working class to take care of each other. It's our responsibility. There is no such thing as a nobility in this country meant to take care of us and we don't want one.

We can pay our way and then some, and give up some things. We always knew no one is coming to save us, no one ever has so we must commit.

So while I do believe that sales taxes are regressive, property taxes are really progressive like income taxes are. The poor get exemptions based on age or disability in property taxes, and the owner of the cheap house does not pay as much as the owner of the mansion. We do and have gotten a return on our taxes, so I don't know what you are talking about here.

[adirondacker]

18. Property taxes, in recent years, have escalated by up to 50% to make up the shortfall

of the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy in NY. Many of the lower class in this area have given up their homes due to the inability to pay the taxes on the higher assessment rates that were produced a few years ago. The housing bubble had a lot to do with it as well.

I don't disagree that property tax can be a progressive tax if it were based on a sliding scale ie family Income (you have to be in the poverty level to have any kind of break) The middle class, what's left of it, is losing everything in the present state of the national economic structure, including their meager inheritance.

[Skeeter Barnes]

16. Their deaths are full time. Benefits should be, too.

RIP

[Hubert Flottz]

19. Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew managers should...

report for duty, when the next fires are out of control.

They should ride these assholes to the next fire, on a rail.