Posts Tagged judge upholds full pension for firefighter’s widow

Buffalo Grove Fire Department news (more)

Excerpts from the cookcountyrecord.com:

After a judge decided a pension board could award the widow of a firefighter who died of colon cancer an additional $1.7 million, the village of Buffalo Grove has asked a state appeals court to weight in, maintaining its argument the pension board needs more evidence the firefighter’s death can be directly connected to his service as a firefighter.

“This is the first known decision in the State of Illinois where a firefighter’s widow has been awarded the maximum 100 percent line of duty death pension without having to prove that specific acts of duty during the firefighter’s service actually caused (or contributed to) the death,” the village said in a press release announcing the appeal.

The appeal to the Illinois Second District Appellate Court comes about a month since Lake County Circuit Judge Diane Winter backed the Buffalo Gove Firefighters’ Pension Fund Board in its dispute with the village over the pension awarded to the wife of Buffalo Grove Firefighter Kevin Hauber.

Kevin Hauber died of colon cancer in January 2018, and was 51 years old at the time of his death. He had served since 1994 in the fire department. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2014. While undergoing treatment, Hauber applied in October 2014 for a line-of-duty pension benefit. However, he returned to duty less than a year later and withdrew the application.

But in 2017, Hauber’s cancer returned, leading to his death a few months later. Before he died, Hauber applied again for a line-of-duty pension. The pension board evaluated that application in the summer of 2017, soliciting three independent medical evaluations of Hauber’s condition to determine if firefighting made him more likely to suffer this particular kind of cancer. After his death, two of the three medical evaluators indicated they believed it was possible.

The village, however, said more evidence was required because, the village claimed, two of the three doctors – both oncologists – did not “identity any aspect of … Hauber’s particular service as a firefighter that appeared to actually cause or contribute to his colon cancer.”

The pension board approved Hauber’s pension request, prompting the village to ask the courts to review the decision to award the enhanced benefit, which they estimated would conservatively add at least $1.7 million to the total lifetime payout to Hauber’s wife. Under a line-of-duty pension, Hauber’s widow would receive 100 percent of her late husband’s salary as an annuity, rather than the usual 75 percent under a non-line-of-duty pension.

According to the village, a standard pension would entitle a surviving spouse benefit of $76,162 per year. Under a line-of-duty pension, she would receive $101,549 per year.

After months of proceedings in Lake County court, Judge Winter sided in early February 2019 with the pension board, saying the medical evaluations and other research relied upon by the board sufficed. In her ruling, Judge Winter noted a number of specific calls Hauber purportedly responded to in his 23 year firefighting career, which likely exposed him to toxic inhalants and other hazards. She also noted Hauber “was in apparent good health and physical condition” and “didn’t have any of the factors typically responsible for contributing to the development of colon cancer.” She said tests also did not reveal a genetic predisposition to cancer in Hauber.

“The village has demanded that there be strict proof of specific occurrences in firefighter Hauber’s firefighting career that caused or contributed to his cancer,” Judge Winter said, according to the transcript. “With an illness such as cancer, such proof is unreasonable and certainly not required” under state law which requires “only … a showing of the cumulative effects of acts of duty over time…”

“The village asserts there is no evidence to link Kevin Hauber’s cancer to his career as a firefighter, and that’s simply untrue. There may not be a lot of evidence, but the Illinois Pension Code only requires some evidence as the pension board engages in its literal construction of determining Kim Hauber’s entitlement to a line-of-duty surviving spouse benefit,” the judge said.

In a prepared statement in the village’s news release announcing its appeal, Buffalo Grove Village Manager Dane Bragg said village officials “continue to mourn the loss of Kevin Hauber and are grateful for the contributions he made to our community.” But he said, the village continues to believe “the burden of proof to receive the additional pension benefit was not met under the statutory requirements.”

Tags: , , , , , ,

Buffalo Grove Fire Department news (more)

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

Lake County Circuit Court Judge Diane Winter ruled Tuesday that the family of 51-year-old Buffalo Grove Firefighter Kevin Hauber who died of colon cancer last year should receive a full pension benefit, upholding an earlier decision by a local review board that his fatal cancer was caused in the line of duty. Winter said two medical experts already found that Hauber’s death was likely the result of performing acts of duty, or cumulative acts of duty, which involved repeated exposure to toxic smoke and carcinogens while on the job.

Last summer, Buffalo Grove officials announced they were challenging a decision made earlier in 2018 by the Buffalo Grove Fire Department Pension Board that the family of  should receive a full line-of-duty death pension. Hauber, a veteran firefighter and paramedic in Buffalo Grove, died in January 2018, roughly four years after being diagnosed with colon cancer.

In the village’s lawsuit filed June 2018, Buffalo Grove officials said they were appealing the pension board’s decision because of their fiduciary responsibilities to taxpayers, arguing the state’s pension laws require more evidence that Hauber’s fatal cancer was the result of his 23 years of firefighting. Village officials at the time estimated the full, 100-percent pension award of Hauber’s annual $100,000 salary would create an additional liability of $1.7 million compared to a 75-percent award that the Hauber family was qualified to receive.

The ruling also comes as debates about the still-unclear link between firefighting and cancer unfold across Illinois and the rest of the country. An ongoing, multiyear study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safely and Health of nearly 30,000 firefighters from the Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco fire departments has found higher rates of certain types of cancer among firefighters than the general population.

The study also supported a newly signed federal law, the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act, requiring the CDC to collect data via a voluntary registry as part of its ongoing research into whether firefighters’ work increases the odds of them developing some types of cancer.

Tags: , , , , , ,