Remaining six must take on new jobs
The Chief
BY HARPER FREEMAN | March 30, 2026
he FDNY broke the law when it diverted 82 fire cadets into EMS trainee roles after they graduated, an administrative law judge ruled last week.
In an Article 78 administrative petition filed shortly after former FDNY commissioner Robert Tucker made the surprise announcement that the fire cadets would join EMS, the union representing EMTs and paramedics argued the move violated civil service law. Judge Gerald Lebovitz agreed with Local 2507, and its parent union District Council 37, writing in his decision that civil service law prevents the city from appointing employees that aren’t on eligible civil service lists for longer than a three-month period.
It’s unclear how many of the cadets stayed in EMS roles past the three-month legal cutoff.
Of the original 82 cadets that Tucker shifted to EMS last June, only 69 registered with the EMS academy, Oren Barzilay, the president of Local 2507 said at the time. Cadets were pulled into successive FDNY firefighter classes after serving time in EMS and by the new year only 18 fire cadets remained in EMS roles, according to the decision.
‘Believe the laws do not apply to them’
The FDNY did not consult the EMS unions before deciding that the fire cadets would be moved to the EMS academy last year, Barzilay said at the time. He argued then that the cadets were lied to and clearly did not want to be in EMS.
“It’s amazing that in an age when we have many civil service laws and guardrails in place to prevent abuse of the system, we still have city officials and in this case, former Commissioner Tucker who believe the laws do not apply to them,” Barzilay said in a statement on the decision. “By these actions, the former FDNY commissioner illegally put 82 people into the EMS class that had no prior intention of joining EMS, while depriving the same opportunity to others that dreamed of this opportunity who followed the law and the mandated civil service rules, of being employed and trained to become medical first responders.”
A spokesperson for the FDNY did not to respond to a question on what jobs the six remaining cadets will do while they wait to join the fire academy and deferred to the city’s Law Department for comment.
Read full article (subscription needed)