NYPD Unions: City Not Funding Critical Medical Payments for 9/11 Widows, Orphans

For nearly a year, the city has failed to provide funds for critical medical payments to widows and children of first responders who died on 9/11 and other city employees killed in the line of duty, the Daily News has learned.

Since November, the city’s Office of Labor Relations hasn’t made the $850,000 in quarterly payments that go to widows and children of fallen employees through the Health Insurance Stabilization Fund. The money goes to the city’s unions, which use the money to offset prescription drug, eye, and dental exam costs for families of city employees who died on the job.

The payments stopped after the Fund’s balance dropped to zero last year, and the Office of Labor Relations scrambled to bargain with vendors and restructure its debts.

Municipal unions are picking up the tab to make sure that the widows and children aren’t out of pocket, said Vincent Vallelong, the president of the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association. The union is currently supporting 165 widows and families of sergeants who have died in the line of duty.

“We have no choice but to pay,” Vallelong said. “But this money is earmarked for (widows and families). It should be put aside and never be a contention of any bargaining.”

“Here we are approaching the anniversary of Sept. 11 and everyone is screaming ‘Never forget!'” Vallelong said. “The city talks about how the first responders who died on 9/11 are heroes, but at the same time they’re giving the widows and children of these people a big zero in a sense.”

The city has provided the money from the Office of Labor Relations Health Insurance Stabilization Fund since 2001. For more than two decades, the office hasn’t missed any of its quarterly payments, but in July 2024 the agency announced it won’t pay out anything from the fund until it can “collectively bargain” the debts it currently owes.

In October, The News reported that the Stabilization Fund wasn’t making its quarterly payments to the unions. When the story broke, the city made a payment in November, but hadn’t made another one since, said Vallelong.

“I’m disgusted. They’re now a year behind in making these payments,” he said about the city’s failure to make good on its promises. “We treat (9/11 widows and families) like royalty and the city should be treating them the same way.”

The city has a different take on the situation.

In a Sept. 9 letter from OLR Commissioner Renee Campion to union officials, Campion they said the city would continue to make payments through the 3rd quarter of 2025, but going forward it will be up to the unions to make sure the fund is solvent.

“I want to be clear that this benefit has never been funded by the City, and the agreement is clear that it is not the City’s responsibility,” Campion wrote.

An email to the City Hall about the payments was not immediately returned.

The city lost 343 FDNY members, 23 police officers, and 37 Port Authority police officers during the terror attacks on Sept. 11. Their deaths were all considered line of duty deaths. The missing payments also affect families of cops and FDNY members who have died responding to crimes and fighting blazes.

City unions continue to demand the city makes good on its commitments, but so far they haven’t gotten a response, union heads said.

“The city needs to honor its obligation to the families of our fallen heroes, and we are going to continue pressing until it does so,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said. “No matter what, the PBA is never going to allow our line-of-duty families to be deprived of the benefits they deserve.”

In a letter to Campion sent last fall, Harry Nespoli, the chairperson of the Municipal Labor Committee, which represents the city’s unions, said these families should be given the highest priority.

“Widows and orphans had their lives turned upside down by the death of their family member in the service of us all,” Nespoli wrote. “This contribution, while not bringing them back, in some small way helps compensate them for that loss.”

Margaret Mosomillo, the widow of Police Officer Anthony Mosomillo, who was shot and killed while trying to arrest an ex-con in 1998, used these funds just this week, she said.

“I just went to the dentist to get a cleaning yesterday,” she said. “I get eye exams yearly, so this personally affects me.”

Mosomillo found it disturbing that these payments are being used as a bargaining chip as the agency tries to right its fiscal ship.

“Why are they withholding these payments, but the city is still paying for migrants?” she asked. “I feel that the city is using us as a pawn. They’re playing games and we’re being victimized all over again.”

“I’m 56 years old, what’s going to happen when I’m older and I’m on more than one medication?” she asked. “Cops, firefighters and EMTs make sure others are being taken care of every day. Why can’t they take care of us?”

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