Five graduates say the department reclassified them as EMS trainees just before contracts expired, then issued termination letters

NEW YORK — Five graduates of the FDNY’s Fire Cadet program say the department abandoned them after two years of training to become New York City firefighters.

In interviews with NBC New York, they allege FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker reclassified them as EMS trainees just before their two-year contracts expired, then issued termination letters, a move they call a rushed switch and a broken promise.

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“It was either become an EMT or resign,” Shamar Greene, one of the terminated cadets, told NBC New York. “We never signed up to be EMTs.”

Juan Osorno, one of the terminated cadets, said he was deeply disappointed, believing the department had broken a promise to him and others. His termination letter cites failure to clear a required medical exam for the new EMS Trainee title, which he contends happened only because the reclassification was rushed and he couldn’t secure the exam in time.

“We had two weeks to do a whole medical process that usually takes 3 months,” Greene told NBC New York.

FDNY says 15 cadets received termination letters after graduating this summer, while 68 secured clearances to take temporary EMS Trainee roles; 45 of those have since joined the October Fire Academy class.

Commissioner Robert Tucker defended the reclassification, arguing the prior administration’s cadet program was poorly timed because contracts didn’t align with an academy start date.

“The two-year contract that these cadets entered into didn’t coincide with the start of the fire class, and so there was going to be a gap,” Tucker said. “And in that gap, they were all going to be terminated.”

Former Commissioner Laura Kavanagh called the cadet “gap” self-inflicted, saying the program had contingencies to avoid it and urging Tucker to revisit the terminations, suggesting he was misled by opponents of the initiative. Tucker didn’t address her directly, saying the reclassification preserved jobs for most graduates, though some were cut for not meeting new requirements.

The Fire Cadet program was designed to diversify FDNY ranks by creating an alternative path into Probationary Firefighter School, per the department’s DEI report. About 62% of FDNY firefighters are white, versus 31% of NYC’s population, FDNY and 2020 Census data show. It’s unclear what recourse the 15 terminated cadets have; several say they’re weighing legal options.

Was FDNY’s last-minute EMS reclassification of cadets a smart stopgap or a broken promise — and how should the department fix cadet timing going forward?

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