Posted on 07/15/2008 7:17:54 AM PDT by DallasBiff
City to go after bodybuilding firefigher
(Greg Wayland, NECN) - Boston's fire commissioner wants the city to deny the disability claim of one of its firefighters. It's the result of a video showing Albert Arroyo out on disability competing in a body building contest.
The video of Albert Arroyo turned up on YouTube after the 46-year-old had been granted disability leave for a back injury. The May 3rd event came just six weeks after his injury claim.
Arroyo had been collecting his full salary tax free, but has now been switched to regular sick leave.
A lawyer for Arroyo says bodybuilding is helping his client deal with the rigors of his job. The city will try to go after Arroyo for the money he received.
His union will probably defend him. According to the video, he was collecting his $68,000 salary tax free.
$68,000 SALARY????????????????? holy cow- since when to they make that much? (it must be SO GREAT to have a government job)
Sounds like the ‘disabled’ NYC fireman who won the annual race to the top of the Empire State Building a ways back.
The May 3rd event came just six weeks after his injury claim.
+++++++++++++++++++
Go after him to repay for sure. But if he fights it, put the SOB in jail. I’m sure making false claims is illegal.
??? WHAT job? He's been out on disability/sick leave! And if his disability has been determined to be fake, why the heck should he be put on sick leave? There's no mention of his being "sick".
That’s really pretty low, given the location and the job. Given the cost of living in Boston, $68,000 isn’t much to entice people to into a job which involves running into burning buildings, including on nights and weekends, and including in some sketchy neighborhoods where you and I would decline to go into the residential buildings on saftey grounds even when there wasn’t any fire in them.
“Obvious fraud, ripping off the taxpayers and giving honest firefighters a bad name.”
Most certainly, with one caveat.
I am a sometime powerlifter and “strong man” athelete. If you have insomnia and watch ESPN2, you’ve seen me carrying tractor tires or maybe an anvil.
Bodybuilders — in contrast to stregth atheletes -— sometimes (sometimes) have surprisingly little functional strength for their size.
I have seen bodybuilders that have serious back injuries who are unable to functionally lift a couch, for example, win competitions. (They can bench 400-500 pounds -— and look strong as heck -— but can only lift because their back is on a flat board, for example.)
With a well-thought-out training plan, you also work around a serious injury that would not permit you to do what a firefighter does (general functional stregnth), for example.
In short, I would need to know the injury claimed to see if plausible.
99% chance he is a fraud, but this is not a slam dunk.
there, fixed it.
That gut bodybuilders get is from Human Growth hormone abuse
Their intestines keep growing. So disgusting.
Back in the “day” bodybuilders were actually atheletes.
Misnomer alert.....this POS is most certainly not a “firefighter”.....he’s a fire INSPECTOR.
....he’s a fire INSPERCTOR....how “rigorous” is THAT?
I can recall when my employer had photos of a jerk out on Industrial as he carried roofing material up a ladder to the roof of his house. My employer lost the case because the Judge for the Industrial Commission found the evidence "not conclusive when compared to the physician's statement".
Here in NY State, the best middle-class jobs are now Government jobs, and the spread is widening. Guaranteed benefits, no lay offs, automatic pay increases, gold-plated health-care plans (including free plastic surgery!), guaranteed retirement based on highest earning-years (so those about to retire work overtime every day, and retire on 120K per year!).
In our town, a cop on injury leave was found to be working another job during the day. It was OK though, because he worked 3rd shift for the police, and daytime at his other job. He could only be declared incapacitated for the period of his shift!
It’s nice to be one of the chosen few, but we can’t afford it, and that is why Upstate residents are quickly leaving for Texas, Georgia, Arizona.
Now, close your mouth cuz you’re COLD BUSTED!
I had a machine operator who ran an excavation business on the side.
His live-in girlfriend also worked at the plant.
One day, he claimed to have hurt himself on the job.
The same day, his girlfriend suffered a “work-reladed injury”.
Both were put on disability leave since they couldn’t perform “modified duty”.
That’s expensive because of the initial and subsequent insurance hits.
Our insurance carrier (Hancock) sent out an investigator and found them re-roofing his house and installing a geo-thermal system.
Buh, bye.
Hope those fraud charges don’t hurt too much.
God, what’s he doing - trying out for a spot on the Village People?
Maybe he should work in Vallejo CA.
The starting salary for a Vallejo firefighter is about $70,000 a year, among the highest in the state. Ten firefighters earned more than $200,000 each last year, including overtime, city officials said.
And THAT sort of thing is a huge reason why so many employers choose to hire illegal aliens. Can’t say as I blame them. The huge web of unconstitutional laws, regulations, and special taxes that employers are subject to, with employers of manual laborers taking the worst hit, eliminates any semblance of a free market for labor. Employers can hire illegals for what their work is really worth on the free market, and not have to worry about getting hauled into court on phony claims.
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