Minnesota Firefighter Law

At Schmidt and Salita Law Team we pride ourselves in supporting, educating, and representing Minnesota firefighters and their families. We believe firefighters should be informed of their legal rights and they and their families should be protected if they suffer an injury or pass away due to their service.

Legal Rights

Firefighters and their families are protected by a variety of legal rights under both state and federal law, including work comp, personal injury, PERA Disability, healthcare continuation, personal injury, and public safety officer benefits.

Types of Injuries

Firefighters suffer from much higher rates of cancer, cardiac conditions, mesothelioma, mental stress, exposure, and physical injuries than other occupations due to the hazards of their profession.

Stay Informed

Check out our blog for up-to-date information, issues, and changes in the law that affect firefighters and their families across the State of Minnesota.

Occupational Hazards of the Fire Service

The fire service is dangerous, whether it be career firefighting, volunteer, or paid on-call firefighting. Firefighters face much more than the obvious hazards of entering burning buildings. Firefighters risk physical dangers, such as neck, back, shoulder, and knee injuries as well as significantly heightened incidences of cancer and heart conditions. Firefighter confront traumatic events on a regular basis that cause psychological distress and can lead to PTSD. Firefighters may also be exposed to asbestos and can develop mesothelioma. We strive to support Minnesota’s firefighters through legal resources and protect firefighters and their families rights when they suffer an on-the-job injury.

Changes in the law

The Minnesota laws that shape firefighters’ legal rights are constantly changing. Firefighters are afforded additional legal protection when they suffer from heart conditions, PTSD, cancer, or COVID-19, in the form of legal presumptions. These presumptions shift the burden of proof to the work comp insurer to disprove that the firefighter was injured in the line of duty, the starting assumption is that the injury is work-related, unlike other work-injuries. The PTSD First Responder Presumption went into effect in 2019 and the COVID-19 Frontline Worker Presumption in 2020. There have also been many legislative pushes to make the cancer presumption stronger for firefighters as these claims are systemically denied, regardless of the facts. We are also thrilled that the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program passed, giving much needed additional support to firefighters across the State of Minnesota.

Our Values

Law is a service based profession. We believe that a commitment to serve others is a core value of a good lawyer. Firefighters serve all of our communities across the State of Minnesota, from the small town up north, to Minneapolis. They put themselves second and in turn suffer serious injuries. We treat our client with dignity and respect during these extremely tough times. Why do we take personal and professional satisfaction in representing firefighters and their families? Firefighters align with our values.