A New York judge has ruled that the FDNY violated state civil service law by temporarily appointing fire cadets to EMT and EMS trainee positions despite the existence of eligible civil service lists for those titles. The ruling affects the six fire cadets who remained in those assignments at the time of the decision, ordering FDNY to remove them and fill those positions with candidates from the appropriate eligibility list.
The dispute arose in June 2025 when FDNY appointed 82 fire cadets to an 18-week EMT training course. The cadets had completed the Fire Cadet program and were awaiting entry into a probationary firefighter class scheduled to begin later that year. According to the court, FDNY’s stated purpose was to keep the cadets continuously employed, allow them to meet minimum and maximum time-in-title requirements, and have them serve in a role that addressed departmental operational needs until they entered the Fire Academy.
District Council 37 and Local 2507 challenged the appointments in an Article 78 proceeding, arguing that the cadets were not on the civil service eligibility lists for EMT appointments and that FDNY had bypassed qualified candidates already on those lists. The unions contended that the appointments violated Civil Service Law §§64 and 65, New York City personnel rules, and Article V, §6 of the New York Constitution, which requires civil service appointments to be made according to merit and fitness, generally through competitive examination. Here is our earlier coverage of the lawsuit’s filing last year…