Rescuer in Sept. 11 attacks denied workers' comp

[Khephra]

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A World Trade Center worker who rushed from home on Sept. 11, 2001, to help rescue victims of the terrorist attack has been denied workers' compensation because he wasn't ordered to the scene by a boss, a court ruled Thursday.

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the state Workers' Compensation Board, and against Christopher Duff's workers' compensation claims for psychological injuries. Duff had won a claim for an unreported amount at two lower-level hearings, but an appeal was won by the state, according to the decision.

"The man was the property manager for the World Trade Center," said one of Duff's attorneys, Robert Grey. "We don't understand the finding that he was not in the course of his employment."

Grey said the decision does preserve the former state worker's claim to compensation for respiratory and psychological problems as a volunteer. That status, however, is somewhat less certain because it will be paid out of a finite federal fund, rather the state workers' compensation fund, Grey said. He said he may appeal Thursday's ruling.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--attacks-workersco1216dec16,0,7418470.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

[whistle]

1. Got to have those rules you know, it's the only way insurance

...companies can keep making profits and paying out huge bonuses to their CEOs.

[Nikepallas]

2. That is just sick/cruel/underhanded.

[liberalhistorian]

3. See, this is what really gets me

about all of this lionizing of 9/11 and anyone involved in it. Everyone pays lip service to it, but when it comes to actually doing something, the tangible aspects of it, especially helping those affected by it, fuggedaboutit! Un-fucking-believable! And let me guess-he would have been censured by his bosses if he HADN'T gone there that day to try and help!

It's like the Shrubbies who go on and on and on about supporting the troops and pay lip service to the troops, etc., etc., but who then turn around and cut their pay and benefits, make them stay longer, charge them for their food during their recuperation, fail to provide them with even the basics, including armored vehicles and ammunition so that they're forced to dig through garbage to find the materials to protect themselves with, and then charge them with insubordination when they dare to question it, etc., etc.

[sandnsea]

4. That should be our approach

Everyone should write an LTTE with the info in your second paragraph in it. It should also include the fact that if the 51% who voted for Bush and his war were actually supporting the troops and joining up, there would be no stop-loss problems. We should expose them for the hypocrites they are.

[bluestateguy]

5. The lesson here: Just mind your own business and never try to help anyone

Sorry to sound cruel, but that's my M.O. after this election.