Sarlo Bill To Support Volunteer Emergency Workers Signed by the Governor

TRENTON – Legislation sponsored by Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo allowing local emergency volunteers to continue volunteering in their communities without fear of losing their state pension if they retire from their paying job was signed by Governor Murphy Friday.

The law, S-1873, protects the volunteers and mitigates the effect on towns that struggle to find and retain round-the-clock protection for their communities.

“We recognize and respect that volunteers provide life-saving services in our communities,” said Senator Sarlo (D-Bergen/Passaic), who also serves as the mayor of Wood-Ridge. “Firefighters, first-aid workers, rescue-squad workers and emergency medical technicians are the first-responders who arrive when emergencies strike.”

An interpretation of IRS code requires retiring police officers, teachers, government employees also be separated from any position with the town for a minimum of six months in order to receive their pension payment. Volunteer firefighters, EMTs and other first-responders are being forced to resign or risk losing their pensions as a result.

Volunteers and communities have been in a state of limbo due to inconsistent opinions from the pension board on whether a volunteer must stop providing services to a community in order to receive a pension upon retirement from an unrelated municipal job.

Seventy-five percent of fire departments are all-volunteer in New Jersey, and 18 percent have paid and volunteer responders. There are 579 volunteer fire departments in the state and 49 career fire departments. The volunteers often hold paying jobs with local municipalities.

The law also provides that it will be effective if the qualified status of PERS and PFRS under federal law can be maintained upon its application.  The law directs the division to make modifications to the system to allow for the bill’s application while maintaining the qualified status of the plans.

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