PITTSBURGH \u2014 11 Investigates thought it had been resolved: the issue of payments for health care to widows of retired Pittsburgh police officers who passed away.<\/p>\n
After years of fighting it in court<\/a>, the new administration agreed to stop the appeal and begin paying the widows.<\/p>\n But the police union claims the city has only agreed to pay one widow, who was the subject of an 11 Investigates report back in July<\/a>.<\/p>\n And the union claims several hundred are due reimbursements, totaling millions of dollars.<\/p>\n Chief Investigator Rick Earle has been following this case for the past six years, and he spoke with the mayor about it last week.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are individuals whose loved ones served this city and protected our residents,\u201d Mayor Corey O\u2019Connor said.<\/p>\n In an interview last week, O\u2019Connor talked about the widows of retired Pittsburgh police officers who had their health benefits pulled by the city when their spouse passed away.<\/p>\n The city stopped paying those health care premiums decades ago, but the police union didn\u2019t find out about it until 2021, when a widow reached out and told them she no longer had the health care benefit from the city.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh police union President Bob Swartzwelder then filed the first grievance under the Peduto administration and won.<\/p>\n The city, then under the Gainey administration, filed multiple appeals but lost every time.<\/p>\n The city still refused to pay even after losing multiple court appeals. <\/p>\n \u201cThis poor widow and other widows currently do not have benefits. It\u2019s outrageous. The Gainey administration should be ashamed of themselves. The law department should be ashamed of themselves,\u201d Swartzwelder said after a hearing in 2022.<\/p>\n And in an 11 Investigates exclusive report this past July, a widow who had just been denied her $270 monthly health care premium had high hopes that O\u2019Connor, who took office in July, would change course.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel that he\u2019s a compassionate man and I\u2019m hoping that compassion rolls over to us. I hope,\u201d said Mary Sansone, who had recently lost her husband, who spent more than three decades working as a police officer in the city of Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n \u201cI personally called her earlier this week and said we worked out and went through, you know, we\u2019re going to make sure that you stay whole and make sure that everything that you are owed rightfully that you get paid,\u201d O\u2019Connor said.<\/p>\n But O\u2019Connor stopped short of agreeing to reimburse all of the spouses.<\/p>\n Earle: \u201cSo, you\u2019ll be evaluating all the others?\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Connor: \u201cYes, I think we continue to evaluate because everyone is totally different, but again the city\u2019s job is to honor those individuals that served.\u201d<\/p>\n That apprehension by the mayor drew sharp criticism from union president Swartzwelder, who in a letter this week to the mayor wrote, \u201cThe FOP considers the continued denial of these earned benefits to elderly surviving beneficiaries to be unacceptable. The FOP respectfully requests that your administration take immediate steps to ensure that the City complies with its contractual and legal obligations\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Swartzwelder claims the city is now refusing to reimburse spouses who were dropped prior to the filing of the grievance in 2021, even though he acknowledges they\u2019re only eligible for payments during the past six years.<\/p>\n Swartzwelder estimates the city owes several hundred widows more than $4 million in back pay.<\/p>\n The mayor told Earle he\u2019ll examine every case.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many out there, and each one is completely different, and you have to go through a process to figure out where that is, but we have to stay on top of it. This is money owed to widowers across the city, and rightfully deserved,\u201d O\u2019Connor said.<\/p>\n Earle spoke with the mayor\u2019s chief of staff Thursday afternoon and asked him if the city will reimburse more widows.<\/p>\n He said they likely will, but it will be done on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n The police union says they will ask the courts to hold the city in contempt if they don\u2019t pay everyone.<\/p>\n Download the FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>. | Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n \u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n