9/11 Disability-Pension Advocates Say NYCERS Not Serving Them

The unions that represent some 9/11 first-responders sidelined by World Trade Center cancers and other life- altering conditions say the New York City Employees' Retirement System continues to deny most of them disability pensions equal to three-quarters of final average salary under a law enacted in 2005 by then-Gov. George Pataki.

The post-9/11 death toll from exposure to the toxins in the air in and around the WTC site following the collapse of the Twin Towers has now exceeded the almost-2,700 people killed in the attacks and rescue attempts. Tens of thousands of first-responders and survivors are currently under treatment for one or more cancers or other ailments linked to their exposure that day and during the months of the cleanup that followed.