Public approval needed for Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department

A program that was created as an incentive to recruit and retain volunteer firefighters and ambulance squad members needs to be amended in the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department or the department will not be compliant with federal age-discrimination law.

According to the department’s current policy, length-of-service credits for its active firefighters end at age 65, but federal law requires that those beyond age 65 continue to earn credits and the money that goes with them as well.

The Length of Service Award Program was established statewide in 1988 and instituted by local fire departments. It is a pension-like program that pays eligible volunteers — those who have reached age 65 in the LCFD — an accrued amount of money based on their years of service, the number of meetings and drills they attend and the training they undergo.

“It doesn’t amount to much money for the individual member, but is an incentive to maintain active-duty firefighters who have much fire service experience and knowledge,” Edward Koehler, the Lawrence-Cedarhurst department’s chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners, said of the program.

In 1990, a volunteer firefighter in Centerport who was over 65 and still accruing length-of-service credits, but not receiving additional money for the service beyond age 65, filed — and won — an age-discrimination lawsuit. Since then all fire departments in New York state have been required to comply with the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act.