A state lawmaker has proposed a law change that would allow the family of ex-FDNY firefighter Derek Floyd to collect hundreds of thousands in death benefits despite his firing.
The bill from Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar (D-Queens) comes after a Post report Sunday that revealed the firefighter was let go in November by the FDNY with 10 others as the city made cuts to cover the ballooning cost of the migrant crisis.
“My bill provides Derek Floyd’s family with the financial lifeline they need in their time of grief, showing to them and the entire world our profound gratitude for his sacrifices,” said Rajkumar, a staunch ally of Mayor Eric Adams.
Floyd had been working as a probationary firefighter in the ceremonial unit for almost five years. He tried to finish the academy but had been repeatedly shot down by department doctors from returning to full duty due to complications from a heart attack that he suffered just months after he was hired.
He died on April 15 of a second heart heart attack, leaving his widow and two young kids, ages 6 and 2, with next to nothing, The Post previously reported. Had he gotten to five years on the job, his family would have been eligible for death benefits from the city.
The proposed bill would make Floyd retroactively eligible for those benefits.
“I will not allow his family to be financially devastated. Our City’s pension fund must provide them the support they deserve for Floyd’s life of service,” Rajkumar said.
The proposed change comes after FDNY Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh put the onus on lawmakers to change the pension eligibility.
“The ball is in their court,” Kavanagh told The Post Tuesday morning after saying the department had been exploring all legal actions to assist the family.
Mayor Eric Adams has defended the firing of Floyd, calling the situation “tragic” but said it was necessary since he never would be able to become a full-duty firefighter.
“We can’t just say, ‘OK, you were brought on to be a firefighter, you don’t qualify, we’re going to hold you on the payroll anyway.’ We can’t do that,” Adams told reporters Tuesday. “That is not how you use taxpayers’ dollars.”
Since Floyd had never finished the academy, he wasn’t eligible for a “reasonable accommodation,” which would allow him to stay on the job doing light-duty work due to his health issues.
The administration has also since pushed back on Floyd being directly tied to the budget cuts after first saying the group of probationary firefighters was let go as part of the department’s first round of belt-tightening last November.
Fire sources told The Post the department had been under immense pressure to reduce spending and they saw the probationary firefighters as “low-hanging fruit.”
In the days after Floyd’s firing, fire officials said they planned to push out nearly 200 firefighters on long-term light duty to meet Adams’s demands for a 5% cut in November.
That reduction was reversed in January and only applied to firefighters who made it through the academy, according to the administration.
