03-18-2008, 02:26 PM
sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flcwdaviecop0316cwmar16,0,2859777.story
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
At council meeting, fired Davie sergeant gets support from police
Ex-Davie sergeant addresses council
By Susannah Bryan
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 16, 2008
DAVIE
As a cop, Mike Necolettos risked his life on the job every day.
None of it compares to the "nightmare" of being fired for having a heart attack, the former sergeant told the Town Council recently as his wife and three daughters looked on.
More than 30 off-duty police officers came to Town Hall to support Necolettos, who was fired Jan. 9 after suffering a heart attack on duty in May.
Lt. Greg Mize, who had suffered several heart attacks, was fired the same day.
Jeff Poole, a Davie resident and detective with the Broward Sheriff's Office, urged the council to reinstate both men.
"The job we do brings a stress you can never imagine," Poole said. "At 38, I had a heart attack and I had a heart attack because I'm a police officer."
Florida law presumes police officers and firefighters with heart disease got it from on-the-job stress. The same law requires cities and counties to pay workers' comp and retirement benefits to officers and firefighters with heart disease.
Necolettos, 37, has filed a grievance with the town claiming he was wrongfully terminated. As a sergeant, he earned $82,857 a year.
Town officials have said they cannot publicly defend the firings due to privacy laws.
During the March 5 town meeting, Davie resident Keith Lanford demanded the town give Necolettos his job back and fire Town Administrator Gary Shimun — with no severance pay.
"Let him go to court and see how it feels to live without an income," Lanford said, drawing applause.
Lanford wore a T-shirt that read, "Town of Davie doesn't have a heart when it comes to its employees."
Officers have vented about the firings on leoaffairs.com, a Web site for law enforcement agencies.
In a March 6 posting, one author calling himself "Sgt. Dude" said he was sorry more officers did not show up.
"This could easily have been any one of us," he wrote. "Shame on those of you that could have attended but chose not to."
The union objected to the way the town treated Necolettos and Mize in a Feb. 15 letter to the Town Council.
"It doesn't just affect Mike," union president John Nasta said during the council meeting. "It affects the morale of all the police officers who live and work in this town."
Since receiving the letter, Shimun has asked the union to help write a policy for handling cases in which officers are permanently disabled.
Most officers who can no longer do the job are given time to apply for disability pensions, rather than being fired and left with no health insurance or workers' comp benefits, said David Murrell, executive director of the Florida Police Benevolent Association.
Town officials are close to settling the Mize case. The town has reinstated his medical benefits and agreed to pay him retirement and temporary disability benefits, said his attorney, Andrea Wolfson.
Potentially, Mize will earn his entire $91,960 salary, including Social Security, pension and worker's comp benefits, Wolfson said. She is negotiating a permanent disability agreement that would give him a 3 percent cost-of-living increase each year.
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7929.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
At council meeting, fired Davie sergeant gets support from police
Ex-Davie sergeant addresses council
By Susannah Bryan
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 16, 2008
DAVIE
As a cop, Mike Necolettos risked his life on the job every day.
None of it compares to the "nightmare" of being fired for having a heart attack, the former sergeant told the Town Council recently as his wife and three daughters looked on.
More than 30 off-duty police officers came to Town Hall to support Necolettos, who was fired Jan. 9 after suffering a heart attack on duty in May.
Lt. Greg Mize, who had suffered several heart attacks, was fired the same day.
Jeff Poole, a Davie resident and detective with the Broward Sheriff's Office, urged the council to reinstate both men.
"The job we do brings a stress you can never imagine," Poole said. "At 38, I had a heart attack and I had a heart attack because I'm a police officer."
Florida law presumes police officers and firefighters with heart disease got it from on-the-job stress. The same law requires cities and counties to pay workers' comp and retirement benefits to officers and firefighters with heart disease.
Necolettos, 37, has filed a grievance with the town claiming he was wrongfully terminated. As a sergeant, he earned $82,857 a year.
Town officials have said they cannot publicly defend the firings due to privacy laws.
During the March 5 town meeting, Davie resident Keith Lanford demanded the town give Necolettos his job back and fire Town Administrator Gary Shimun — with no severance pay.
"Let him go to court and see how it feels to live without an income," Lanford said, drawing applause.
Lanford wore a T-shirt that read, "Town of Davie doesn't have a heart when it comes to its employees."
Officers have vented about the firings on leoaffairs.com, a Web site for law enforcement agencies.
In a March 6 posting, one author calling himself "Sgt. Dude" said he was sorry more officers did not show up.
"This could easily have been any one of us," he wrote. "Shame on those of you that could have attended but chose not to."
The union objected to the way the town treated Necolettos and Mize in a Feb. 15 letter to the Town Council.
"It doesn't just affect Mike," union president John Nasta said during the council meeting. "It affects the morale of all the police officers who live and work in this town."
Since receiving the letter, Shimun has asked the union to help write a policy for handling cases in which officers are permanently disabled.
Most officers who can no longer do the job are given time to apply for disability pensions, rather than being fired and left with no health insurance or workers' comp benefits, said David Murrell, executive director of the Florida Police Benevolent Association.
Town officials are close to settling the Mize case. The town has reinstated his medical benefits and agreed to pay him retirement and temporary disability benefits, said his attorney, Andrea Wolfson.
Potentially, Mize will earn his entire $91,960 salary, including Social Security, pension and worker's comp benefits, Wolfson said. She is negotiating a permanent disability agreement that would give him a 3 percent cost-of-living increase each year.
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7929.