Posted on 12/28/2012 3:48:55 PM PST by raybbr
Deliberations about possible legislation to expand state workers compensation to police who responded to the Newtown school massacre have changed direction: There is now a move to also include school staff members and medical examiners' personnel who were exposed to the horror.
Unions for four groups of public employees — state police, Newtown police, staff of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and Newtown educators — have been consulting each other in a unified effort aimed at prompting legislation to obtain workers compensation benefits for anyone they represent who was at Sandy Hook Elementary School Dec. 14.
"We will work together to get the law changed," said Andrew Matthews, president of the Connecticut State Police Union. So far, legislators who have been contacted have "responded positively" to the idea of passing such legislation soon after the General Assembly convenes Jan. 9 at the state Capitol for its five-month 2013 legislative session.
Late Friday afternoon, Matthews sent an email to his union members, informing them of the discussions with the other three unions in "a collaborative effort to protect the interests of everyone that needs assistance as a result of this workplace trauma." Sign Up For Traffic Text Alerts
It was traumatic "not only for initial responders, but for everyone who had to witness the horrific scene that may never be erased," Matthews wrote. "Many were forced to witness one of the most inconceivable and deadly situations our country has ever seen in order to fulfill their duties."
Within days of the tragedy — when a gunman used a military-style semiautomatic rifle to kill 20 first-graders and six school staff members, and then shot himself — a key legislative committee chairman, Rep. Stephen D. Dargan, D-West Haven, was already talking about expanding workers compensation for police personnel.
(Excerpt) Read more at courant.com ...
Unions Join Forces To Advocate Change In Law So Newtown Responders, School Staff Get Workers Compensation
Legislation Could Cover Not Only Police But Also School Staff, Medical Examiners Personnel
“Within days of the tragedy — when a gunman used a military-style semiautomatic rifle to kill 20 first-graders and six school staff members, and then shot himself — a key legislative committee chairman, Rep. Stephen D. Dargan, D-West Haven, was already talking about expanding workers compensation for police personnel”
I saw pics of the police taking the rifle out of the trunk. Was it two handguns, 4 rifles, or what? I can’t keep up with the latest.
P.S. We should pay extra for someone doing their job?
You asked the right question: “We should pay extra for someone doing their job?”
All law enforcement and possibly fire departments, etc. have psychological counselling staff or professionals available for aiding those who suffered from the horrors they see during their type of work.
Imagine a fireman who sees the burned bodies of young children in a house fire, or a car fire, etc.? I hope that they have counselling available as part of their work program.
My son didn’t get extra pay when he saw enemy and innocent dead in Iraq? If he had a problem, the military had medical personnel available to help him and others deal with it.
This is another union-pushed “entitlement” program and it denigrates the honorable work that the police, firemen, coroner’s office, etc. do on a daily basis.
Give them the psychological help they need without making them into another “victim” class.
Don’t let the unions make this their next “cause du jour”.
I’m not getting compensated for mental anguish when I watch the mainstream television networks, or read the Wash. Post or NY Times, or suffer through Schulz, Matthews, O’Brien, Maddow, Olberman, O’Donnell, and now Piers Morgan.
Maybe I should form a group known as “People who suffer from the liberal media’s lies and deceptions”, or “Loyal Americans who suffer from marxist/Leftist propaganda on TV, public radio (NPR), and in the classrooms”.
I’m “entitled” to compensation, if you follow this latest liberal/union ploy. No I’m not.
Otherwise half our nation is due compensation for suffering from the marxist ravages of Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Schumer and the “commisCzars”.
“Was it two handguns, 4 rifles, or what? I can’t keep up with the latest.”
I’m not sure if there was only one shooter! Who destroyed that maniac’s computer hard drive? Not exactly something that requires no effort...Usually they leave a manifesto or note of some kind...
If unions weren't involved, I might...might...have thought differently. This is just another way to hold out an empty hand for more.
If this works, watch out eventually for hazardous duty pay for issuing traffic citations. It's never enough when sucking at the public teat.
Here is the scam. Union hires a rent-a-shrink who just happens to believe these people are permanently traumatized and unable to ever work again. Each, whether involved first hand or just heard the details from a friend, of the policemen, school teachers, school administrators, school janitors, school bus drivers and crossing guards, ambulance drivers and attendants, fire fighters, state troopers, and medical workers are to be awarded non-taxable permanent disability pay based upon their highest three years pay, including overtime and bonus payments, for life without any future review.
The story should read within days of the tradgedy Unions went to work to figure out a way to rip off the taxpayers.
Nobody job is to deal with 20 dead bodies of children and 6 staff members. The military and other jobs such as police and firemen have a higher risk of seeing these events but even then we have never heard of such an advent like Sandy Hook before in the USA.
I heard a medical examiner on a LA radio station talking about this. He told the story of one of his coworkers who had been at the seen of many brutal crimes over the years and came across one evolving multiple children that ended his career. After he was done with the case he quit. Some things are so horrific they stray with you.
I have worked in and around banks for the last twenty years. I have thought about what to do if a bank robbery while I was there. I knew a lady that had a gun held to her head for about 5 minuets while the gunman treated to kill her if others didn’t comply. She took a few months off and was given the choice of where she wanted to work. This worked for her.
But after any major crime like Sandy Hook to just say suck it up and do your jobs needs a little more thinking.
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