Press Releases
NEWS: REPORT - CITY WORKERS HAVE MISSED 700,000 DAYS OF WORK IN IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN
New York City – City police officers, fire fighters, and municipal workers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan have missed nearly 700,000 days of work since 2001, according to a new report released today by Representative Anthony Weiner (D – Brooklyn & Queens), co-chair of the Bipartisan Congressional Caucus on the Middle Class. The report, based on City payroll data and salary estimates for municipal workers, found that City taxpayers have paid more than $65 million in salaries for workers deployed overseas. The monetary costs and productivity losses – which come on top of 51 City residents who have tragically died for their country – result from 2,028 City employees who have taken military leave since September 11th, including 1,191 from the NYPD and 251 from the FDNY.
The loss of first responders poses a particular hardship to New York City’s ongoing effort to keep 8 million residents and 4 million daily mass transit riders safe. Rep. Weiner announced a new comprehensive revenue sharing bill, which will provide $40 billion in Federal aid to economically-challenged cities, including localities incurring costs when first responders are called to active duty.
Rep. Weiner said, “Dozens of New York families have lost loved ones in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But all New Yorkers have paid in economic price for this foreign policy folly.”
KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REPORT
- Since September 11th, City employees have missed a total of 691,493 days of work while on military leave.
- Of the 691,493 missed work days, the NYPD has lost 405,927 days and the FDNY has lost 70,819 days due to military leave.
- In 2007, the NYPD had a total of 362 members deployed and the FDNY had a total of 76 members deployed. These first responders missed a total of 60,893 work days at an estimated cost of $3.3 million to the City.
- In total, the City has paid $123.3 million to City employees on military leave, including $79.4 million paid to NYPD employees and $13.2 million to FDNY.
- After salary reimbursements, the City has spent $65.6 million since September 11, 2001 to fill salary gaps between City pay and military pay, with $40.9 million specifically funding first responders.
- Of the $92.6 million paid to first responders, an estimated $43 million has been refunded to the City, leaving the City to pick up a $49.6 million tab.
- Currently, there are a total of 488 City employees on leave, including 281 NYPD employees and 59 FDNY employees.
Typically, when City employees are called up for active duty, they forfeit their regular paychecks, and take their new paychecks from the military. Under most circumstances, this amounts to taking a pay cut.
To honor the service of New York’s City employees, the City has set up a program to make up the difference in their salaries – so that the families of men and women deployed overseas are not put under additional financial hardship.
For example, if Mr. Smith makes $55,000 annually as an NYPD officer and his military salary is $45,000, serving in the military would normally mean taking a $10,000 pay cut. Instead, the City continues to pay Officer Smith $55,000 annually, the military pays him $45,000 and he must refund to the City the lesser of the two – in this case the military pay. In the end, Officer Smith gets paid $55,000 – his City salary – to serve in the military.
Under Weiner’s comprehensive revenue sharing proposal, the Federal government would provide cities and states with $40 billion in aid, part of which would reimburse the City for the $10,000 it expends to fill the gap between Officer Smith’s City pay and his lower military pay.
