Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
Earlier this year, Buffalo Grove officials agreed to abide by court ruling requiring the village to pay full pension benefits to the widow of Firefighter Kevin Hauber, who died of colon cancer in January 2018.
Now Kimberly Hauber is asking the village pay health insurance benefits for her family also, arguing they are entitled under the Public Safety Employee Benefits Act, which provides health care benefits at the municipality’s expense to a firefighter who dies in the line of duty responding to an emergency.
The village board will decide Monday whether to convene a hearing to hear her claims. If Buffalo Grove trustees decide to convene the hearing, as village staff recommends, the village president would appoint a hearing officer to oversee the proceedings. If the village does not follow staff’s recommendation Monday, the Hauber family would receive the benefits.
Kevin Hauber, 51, died after a nearly 24-year career with the Buffalo Grove Fire Department. The village’s fire pension board later determined that his cancer was caused by his work as a firefighter, making his survivors eligible for full line-of-duty benefits. After the village disputed the finding, a Lake County judge ruled that Kimberly Hauber was eligible to receive about $101,549 a year in pension benefits. The village lost its appeal and decided not to ask the Illinois Supreme Court to consider the case.
After the pension case was resolved, the family applied for health benefits.
In recommending the hearing, Village Manager Dane Bragg contends that there is insufficient evidence to establish that Hauber’s cancer resulted from a response to an emergency situation. If there is evidence, Kimberly Hauber should have the opportunity to provide it at the hearing, he said.
