Public Employee Press

Union gets EMS retiree an $8,000 “life preserver”

In a powerful show of solidarity and selflessness, co-workers in Local 3621 rallied to the side of EMS Lt. Theo Wells and donated sick and vacation days worth $8,000 to help their ailing co-worker.

“They came through right in the nick of time,” Wells said of the generous effort by members of Uniformed Emergency Medical Service Officers Local 3621.

Wells, who began his career in 1977, was forced to retire in September for health reasons. Before he retired, his illness had exhausted his sick and vacation time as well as a two-week vacation advance and a one-time 90-day leave grant.

The recipient normally gets the cash value of half of the contributed sick leave and all of the annual leave time. The donations for Wells added up to $8,000, but somewhere along the line the paperwork was lost and he had to retire without getting his co-workers’ contributions. Worse, being retired made him ineligible to receive the money, and he was left with no income at all as he waited for his pension payments to start.
With a son in college who needed money for books and tuition, Wells’s debts began to pile up and bill collectors started to call.

That’s when Local 3621 President Tom Eppinger intervened. He met several times on the case with Donay Queenan, assistant commissioner of personnel at the FDNY, who straightened out the problem and got Wells his money.

“We have to give her a lot of credit. She really came through for us,” said Eppinger.

“It was like they threw me a life preserver,” said Wells when he heard of the decision in October. He soon began receiving his retirement funds and Social Security benefits and is now back on his feet.

“Just make sure you tell everyone how much I appreciate what they did for me,” said Wells. “I’m very grateful.”