Firefighter Pendorf: Fight for Disability Pension

No one ever imagines losing their career to a ‘line of duty’ injury until it happens…

And if that unimaginable happens, you will be taken care of right?

2015 Charlie was injured on the job

2018 Charlie had a necessary surgery that ended his career

2020 His disability pension was denied

2022 He won the appeal on the case's merit and his pension was granted.

Today: The county still fights through litigation to keep from paying any benefits.

Being taken care of. This just wasn’t the case for Charlie Pendorf, a career firefighter paramedic from Anne Arundel County. This Maryland paramedic began his training in EMS in 2003 taking night classes while still in high school. He knew it was the career he wanted from the time he saw the Twin Towers hit on that tragic day on 9/11/2001.

He became a paramedic, critical care paramedic, firefighter, hazmat, rescue tech, canine search and rescue technician, and a tactical paramedic for the county's swat team.

Unfortunately he sustained an injury while on duty in 2015 requiring numerous procedures ultimately leading to a back surgery in 2018 to include a fusion, bolts and rods and a ton of physical therapy.

But THIS is not the purpose of raising funds.

Despite the county paying for all his treatment with no contest that it was work related, Charlie was not able to pass his functional capacity exam and was forced to end his career as a Firefighter/ Paramedic. He applied for a ‘service connected disability retirement’ and had his goodbye meeting with the Chief of the department. That was over 2.5 years ago.

Since then the county government has been playing dirty. They are denying and fighting a wildly drawn out legal battle to keep him from receiving his benefits.

Here's what puts every active member of the fire service at risk. The decision to award Charlie's pension was made by the pension analyst and one doctor of her choosing. In court the analyst told us they keep stats on every doctor and their approval rates. They went as far as saying if she had selected a different doctor we probably wouldnt be sitting here in court right now. The analyst also went on Facebook and pulled a 12 year old sailing picture (5 years prior to the initial injury) and pre surgical pictures of a greenhouse being built by friends and family.

Despite the numerous physicians and records submitted outlining the injury, origin, surgery, an unfortunate post surgical hypoxic brain injury, permanent inability to perform his duties as a Firefighter, the county still hired private investigators to follow Charlie and his family for months. They to date have not found any evidence that he could lift anything beyond what was determined in his functional capacity test.

The county hired a doctor to testify that Charlie could return to work, was not injured at work, and that everything was self-serving.

This legal battle has been going on since before covid.

Charlie and his family were reduced to a single income, left without insurance benefits, and his children qualified and were receiving Medicaid with the state's covid programs. They have been able to pull on retirement funds, leverage their house, live on credit, and not once ask for help because they were trying to do this alone.

We are asking for help with the legal fees he has been accruing. To date, it is estimated to be over $10,000 spent on legal retainers.

Despite winning his case with the board of appeals, the county ignored the order to pay any benefits from January until September when the circuit court ordered them to pay. Charlie signed his retirement papers and was issued insurance but the county still has not issued the backpay he was ordered to receive.

The county appealed the decision from the board of appeals on Oct 17, saying the board of appeals was arbitrary and capricious, abused their discretion and biased the case toward Charlie. The Anne Arundel County Circuit court Judge sided with the county and remanded his pension hearing back to the board of appeals with strict guidelines for how this case can be heard.

After the judge's ruling the county was quick to ask about the benefits and back pay. The judge admitted he wasn't prepared to rule but thinks they probably wouldn't be awarded.

So now Charlie and his family are in limbo. They received insurance and have used it for an ER visit for their daughter and now may have it taken back like it was never issued. They are not getting backpay they should've received since the decision was issued in January. The county blatantly and carelessly ignored the January award and the September order. Now they are being rewarded for bad behavior. If this was a person who chose to ignore a court order there would be real consequences.

Any money raised will be only used for legal fees for Charlie. It was the only compromise he would agree to. ANY MONEY raised beyond his unrecoverable legal fees will be put into a fund to help future firefighters and their battles with the county until we can make real changes to prevent this catastrophe from affecting members of public safety.

When we put our lives on the line knowing that if anything happened to us, our families would be cared for. This unacceptable case is unfortunately adding unnecessary danger to this field.

Any help is appreciated! For more information please feel free to reach out to Charlie directly.