A city firefighter has been paid since 2013 for doing absolutely nothing, The Post has learned.
Arnaldo Rodriguez, 40, has been sitting at home for 2¹/₂ years — raking in about $125,000 in salary plus benefits — as the FDNY apparently tries to make up its mind about what to do with him.
“It’s crazy. I’m in limbo land,” Rodriguez said.
The father of two said his saga began 13 years after he joined the FDNY as an EMT. In July 2013, he became a “priority hire” — promoted to firefighter as part of the department’s settlement of a federal racial-discrimination lawsuit.
The promotion was supposed to automatically make him a firefighter with seniority since he was a Hispanic litigant. It would have net him about $85,000 annually, or $35,000 more than he made as an EMT.
But four days after he entered the Fire Academy, he was told to report for a hearing at the office of the chief of personnel, Rodriguez said.
He said that when he showed up, he was asked for his cellphone number and told he no longer had to show up at the academy.
He said he asked why and where he should show up instead and was told: “You work for us. We don’t work for you. We’ll call you — don’t call us.”
He has yet to be assigned anywhere.
Rodriguez and his lawyer, Peter Gleason, said they suspect the department is listing Rodriguez as a firefighter on the books to show compliance with the federal court settlement, but it has no real intention of using him as one.
They suspect the FDNY is basing the decision to keep him on ice in part on an off-duty concussion Rodriguez sustained at Great Adventure Amusement Park in New Jersey while still an EMT. The injury put Rodriguez on “light duty” as an EMT for years.
Gleason said the department has repeatedly sought to question Rodriguez on the issue while refusing to clarify his status.
And the department knew about his injury well before it promoted him to firefighter, Gleason noted.
Gleason said that on Jan. 22, the FDNY provided a letter saying Rodriguez had been “demoted” on Aug. 2, 2013, back to EMT. But the department refused to provide details on how that demotion occurred, the lawyer said.
Even stranger, Gleason added, is that he received a Jan. 16 letter from the city’s personnel office, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, stating that Rodriguez is still a firefighter.
Additionally, Rodriguez’s paychecks show deductions paid to the Uniformed Firefighters Association, the firefighters union.
An FDNY spokesman said it would not comment “until the department’s investigation is final.”
A hearing is slated for Friday.
“This has been killing me for more than two years. Right now, my life is on standby. I remain ready, willing to go back to full duty,” Rodriguez said.