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Portland Firefighter Rehired 17 Years Later
PORTLAND, Ore. - A Portland firefighter who was trained as a chef after an injury 17 years ago has been rehired as a building inspector for the Portland Fire Bureau.
Tom Hurley reported to duty Dec. 23 in a deal worked out by city Commissioner Randy Leonard, The Oregonian reported.
After injuring a knee and his back in 1993, Hurley received thousands of dollars in disability benefits and vocational rehabilitation training that included sending him to the French Culinary Institute in New York in 2000.
Hurley, 52, ran an upscale French restaurant in Northwest Portland called Hurley's before selling it and opening a restaurant and bar in Seattle.
The restaurants failed, and as of March 2010 Hurley was unemployed, according to his attorney, Montgomery Cobb.
Hurley briefly worked for a hotel chain outside Seattle and then for a restaurant chain in California that downsized, costing Hurley his job, his lawyer said.
Voters approved reforms to the disability system in 2006, and the Portland Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund started a "return to work" program for injured police and firefighters.
The fund ordered Hurley to start training as a low-hazard fire inspector four years ago. He refused, noting he was operating restaurants in Portland and Seattle at the time. The fund then cut off his disability benefits and terminated him in 2007.
Hurley didn't appeal, but the Portland Fire Fighters Association filed a grievance against the city on his behalf.
An arbitrator last January granted Hurley $103,000 for three years of lost disability payments and $3,200 in continued monthly benefits, a decision city Commissioner Dan Saltzman feared could open the door for other injured firefighters and police to do an end-run around the disability fund and challenge the city's return-to-work program.
Hurley was rehired, even though the City Council voted 4-1 last spring to challenge the arbitrator's award, and any pending grievance, lawsuit or future filing that threatened to unravel the reforms voters approved to curtail abuses to Portland's unique public safety disability fund. The challenge is now before the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Neither Hurley nor his lawyer could be reached for comment Monday.
Saltzman said Monday he suspects Hurley sought to return to work to help boost his pension, and because his business ventures had failed.
Leonard said the city attorney's office approved the move.
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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Tom Hurley reported to duty Dec. 23 in a deal worked out by city Commissioner Randy Leonard, The Oregonian reported.
After injuring a knee and his back in 1993, Hurley received thousands of dollars in disability benefits and vocational rehabilitation training that included sending him to the French Culinary Institute in New York in 2000.
Hurley, 52, ran an upscale French restaurant in Northwest Portland called Hurley's before selling it and opening a restaurant and bar in Seattle.
The restaurants failed, and as of March 2010 Hurley was unemployed, according to his attorney, Montgomery Cobb.
Hurley briefly worked for a hotel chain outside Seattle and then for a restaurant chain in California that downsized, costing Hurley his job, his lawyer said.
Voters approved reforms to the disability system in 2006, and the Portland Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund started a "return to work" program for injured police and firefighters.
The fund ordered Hurley to start training as a low-hazard fire inspector four years ago. He refused, noting he was operating restaurants in Portland and Seattle at the time. The fund then cut off his disability benefits and terminated him in 2007.
Hurley didn't appeal, but the Portland Fire Fighters Association filed a grievance against the city on his behalf.
An arbitrator last January granted Hurley $103,000 for three years of lost disability payments and $3,200 in continued monthly benefits, a decision city Commissioner Dan Saltzman feared could open the door for other injured firefighters and police to do an end-run around the disability fund and challenge the city's return-to-work program.
Hurley was rehired, even though the City Council voted 4-1 last spring to challenge the arbitrator's award, and any pending grievance, lawsuit or future filing that threatened to unravel the reforms voters approved to curtail abuses to Portland's unique public safety disability fund. The challenge is now before the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Neither Hurley nor his lawyer could be reached for comment Monday.
Saltzman said Monday he suspects Hurley sought to return to work to help boost his pension, and because his business ventures had failed.
Leonard said the city attorney's office approved the move.
___
Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tyler Lyons on
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Um wow.... what a bunch of crap. I am all for rehabilitation and returning to work. They paid for him to go to New York, to a french Culinary school... he opened restraunts in Portland and Seattle, the city wanted to pay him to come back to work in inspections, HE DECLINED.... he had restaurants, so they fired him. He loses his business and then he sues to get his job back? I don't get it. So he can't work in inspections for 17 years but can run 2 restraurants, and he was paid disability the whole time... I hope there is more to the story. I know some of the City council in Portland are um.... how to be PC... lacking in common sence, and I am sure hoping there is more to this. I think the funding of how to bring some injured firefighters back to modified-light duty is a great thing. I am thankful my department has worked with people (including myself) for modified duty. I guess I don't understand why someone who is running their own business thinks that the City owes them money when they don't want to come back to work.....
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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Tyler reread the article- he didn't sue to get his job back- The fund ordered Hurley to start training as a low-hazard fire inspector four years ago. He refused, noting he was operating restaurants in Portland and Seattle at the time. The fund then cut off his disability benefits and terminated him in 2007.
Hurley didn't appeal, but the Portland Fire Fighters Association filed a grievance against the city on his behalf.
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Yeah, I can read.... I got that. Like I said, I am all for being able to go back to work at the FD. HE DECLINED IT until his business failed, and they terminated him. And now they are bringing him back, and paying him back wages from disability. There are people who would love to come back to work and can't because their departments don't have those positions or they are disabled. Fight for them, don't fight for the guy who doesn't want to come back.
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