A city firefighter has been paid since 2013 for doing absolutely nothing, Tไhe Post has learned.
Arnaldo Rodriꦺguez, 40, has been sitting at home for 2¹/₂ years — raking in about $125,000 in salary plus benefits — as the FDNY apparently tries to make up its mind about what to do with♈ him.
“It’s crazy. I’m in limbo land,” Rodriguez said.
The father of two said his saga began 13 years after he joined the FDNY as an EMT. In July 2013, he became a “priority hire” — promoted to firefighter as part of the department’s settlement♕ of a federal racial-discrimination laws🦄uit.
The promotion was supposed to auto🐭matically make him a firefighter with seniority since he was a Hispanic litigant. It would have net him about $85,000 annually, or $35,000 more than he made as 🥂an EMT.
But four days 🐼after he entered the Fire Academy, he was told to report foඣr a hearing at the office of the chief of personnel, Rodriguez said.
He said that when he showed up, he was asked for his cellphone number and told he no longer ওhad to show up a♌t the academy.
He said he asked why and where he should sཧhow up instead and was told: “You work for us. We don’t work for you. We’ll call you — don’t call us.”
He has yet to be assigned anywhere.
Rodriguez and his lawyer, Peter Gleason, said they suspect the department🐎 is listing Rodriguez as a firefighter on the books to s⛦how compliance with the federal court settlement, but it has no real intention of using him as one.
They suspect the FDNY is basing the decision to keep him on ice in part on an off-duty concussion Rodriguez sustained at Great Advent▨ure Amusement Park in New Jersey while still an EMT. The injury put Rodriguez on “lighꦓt duty” as an EMT for years.
Gleason said the department has repeatedly sought to question Rodriguez onꦇ the issue while refusing to clarify his status.
And the department knew about his injury well before it promoted him to firefiꦑghter, Gleason noted.
Gleason said that on Jan. 22, the FDNY provided a letter saying Rodriguez had been “demoted” on Aug. 2, 2013, back to EMT. But the department refused to provide details on how that demotion occurred, the law𝐆yeಌr said.
Even stranger, Gleason added, is that he received a Jan. 16 letter from the city’s personnel ofওfice, the Department of Citywide Administrative Serv🌊ices, stating that Rodriguez is still a firefighter.
Additiona𓆉lly, Rodriguez’s paychecks show deductions paid to the Uniformed Firefighters Association, the firefighters union.
An F🐲DNY spokesman sa💎id it would not comment “until the department’s investigation is final.”
A hearing is slated for Friday.
“This has been killing me for more than two years. Right now, my life is on standby. I remain ready, willing to go back to full duty,” Rodriguez sai🌟d.