A New York judge has ordered the FDNY to start giving competitive promotional tests for top emergency medical service ranks, ending what one union leader described as years of insider deal-making that decided who got ahead. The order covers positions including EMS captain, deputy chief, division chief and division commander, according to court documents cited in the ruling.
Municipal unions had petitioned the state Supreme Court to force New York City to comply with a 2019 state law requiring the FDNY to administer promotional tests for those roles, according to the New York Post. The unions claimed in court filings that the city had ignored the promotional-testing statute for more than five years, with the initial petition seeking action filed while Eric Adams was mayor. The judge ultimately determined that EMS worker promotions should be based on merit and fitness rather than the arbitrary internal process the unions say had been in place.
Vincent Variale, president of Uniformed EMS Officers Union Local 3621, did not mince words about what the ruling means for his members. “Ems promotions were basically controlled by a good old boys’ club,” Variale said, according to the Post. He called the court decision “one major step in the right direction” and said he hoped the city will follow through on it.
A Decades-Old Pay Gap Behind the Fight
The promotional-testing dispute is unfolding against the backdrop of a much larger financial grievance: EMS workers say they are entitled to the same benefits as fire officers but have never received anything close to pay parity. Base salary for an FDNY emergency medical technician tops out at approximately $59,000 to $59,534 after five years, compared to firefighters, who reach roughly $110,000 in the same span, according to EMS1. That roughly $51,000 gap starts from an EMT base salary of just $39,386 a year.
The union and its members are seeking the same pay for EMS workers that firefighters receive, framing the promotional-testing win as one piece of a broader fight for equal treatment. EMS has been part of the FDNY since the city merged the former Emergency Medical Service, then run by the Health and Hospitals Corporation, into the fire department on March 17, 1996, per the same EMS1 reporting. Union leaders maintain that merger never delivered the pay parity or budget allocation it promised, even though EMS now handles roughly 80 percent of all 911 emergency calls, according to municipal union testimony cited by EMS1.
Courts Have Repeatedly Rebuffed the City
This is not the only recent legal setback tied to how the city staffs and promotes emergency responders. In March, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Gerald Lebovitz ruled that the FDNY violated civil service law when it diverted 82 fire cadets into EMS trainee roles without following eligible civil service lists, a case District Council 37 and Local 2507 brought after former Commissioner Robert Tucker assigned fire cadets to EMS duty, according to The Chief. Separately, in September 2025, U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman denied the city summary judgment in a federal civil rights case brought by Local 3621, allowing claims that historical EMS officer promotional practices disproportionately disadvantaged minority and female officers to proceed toward trial.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the promotional-testing decision, the Post reported. The pattern across these cases suggests city administrations have repeatedly tried to sidestep civil service testing and administrative guardrails governing EMS staffing, only to be overruled by the courts.
Attrition Crisis Still Looms Over the Department
Even with the promotional-testing order in place, the underlying staffing emergency inside FDNY EMS remains unresolved. Local 2507 President Oren Barzilay projected in March that roughly 1,500 of the city's 4,300 municipal EMTs and paramedics could quit in 2026 alone, citing wage disparities and demanding workloads. That warning came during a City Council budget hearing on FDNY operational challenges, the same forum where Commissioner Lilian Bonsignore, a 31-year EMS veteran appointed by Mamdani, publicly endorsed EMS pay parity while noting that collective bargaining ultimately falls under City Hall's authority.
The exit ramp many EMS members take is internal promotion to the firefighter ranks rather than pay raises within EMS itself. In May 2024, more than 180 current and former FDNY EMS personnel qualified to transition to firefighter positions through an internal promotional exam made possible by a 2023 city law that expanded eligibility for members who turned 29 during pandemic-era exam delays. As Hoodline has previously reported, that steady drain of experienced medics has coincided with FDNY ambulance arrival times for life-threatening emergencies climbing to an average of 11 minutes and 21 seconds in fiscal year 2025, up from 9 minutes and 34 seconds in fiscal year 2021.
City lawmakers have moved to force more transparency around the shortages. Local Law 30 of 2026, sponsored by Council Member Joann Ariola and enacted in August, requires the FDNY to submit monthly public reports detailing EMS unit availability and the causes behind operational shortfalls. Competitive testing may finally settle allegations of favoritism in who gets promoted, but it does nothing on its own to close the pay gap or slow the attrition that has strained the city's emergency response system for years.
