Boston City Council Unanimously Approves Line-of-Duty Death Benefit for Firefighter's Widow

BOSTON -- February 16, 2022, Boston City Council unanimously approved a special law petition to grant full line-of-duty death benefits to the widow of Lt. Leroy Rodriguez, a Boston firefighter who died during surgery after being injured on duty. Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, chair of the Committee on Government Operations, explained that Maria Rodriguez had mistakenly applied for Section 9 benefits paying 72 percent of annual compensation rather than Section 100 benefits, which pay 100 percent and include survivor provisions, among them priority appointment eligibility to the Boston Fire Department for Rodriguez's son, Leroy Rodriguez Jr. The 12-0 roll-call vote also amended the petition title from "retirement benefits" to "death benefits." In the same session, newly elected at-large Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune delivered her maiden speech introducing three dockets including a resolution, passed by voice vote, calling on the Biden administration to end deportations of Haitian migrants under Title 42, and Councilor Brian Worrell presented a "Black and Brown Economic Empowerment Agenda," citing data showing Black Bostonians hold a median net worth of $8 against $247,500 for white Bostonians and that only 1.2 percent of city contracts go to Black-owned and Latinx-owned businesses.