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Jefferson Fire Fighters Association |
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#1
11-16-2008
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Schedule and Overtime
Jefferson Parish proposes changes to a firefighter’s schedule that will financially harm firefighter families, under the pretense of budgetary restrictions, while incompetent Eastbank Consolidated Fire Department administrators waste tax dollars on a daily basis. Jefferson firefighters have worked the same schedule for almost 50 years. Three shifts work (24 hours on and 24 hours off) until they work a total of five 24 hour shifts. Each shift rotates out for 6 days and the rotation continues during a firefighter’s career.
Jefferson Parish wants the public to believe firefighters are being paid for overtime they don’t actually work. Regular hours and scheduled overtime hours have never been defined. A total of 8.5 hours of scheduled overtime is included in the figures of an average 56.5 hour work week; there is no way to distinguish which hours are overtime hours. The scheduled, guaranteed 8.5 hours of overtime is a major part of firefighter salaries. Firefighters work an average of 16.5 hours over a 40 hour standard work week in the private sector. Jefferson Parish knows it would be illegal to pay firefighters for hours of work they are not entitled to. Professional fire departments use the assumption of an average 56.5 hour work week in calculating firefighter pay. Fire personnel are paid 8.5 hours of scheduled overtime per week, even though, they might work as many as 96 hours, or as few as 24 hours in a week. Scheduled overtime is included in firefighter’s regular pay schedule. The Louisiana Firefighters Retirement System recognizes scheduled overtime pay as regular salary. Jefferson Parish attempts to confuse the public about the difference of scheduled overtime and unscheduled overtime and proposes to eliminate firefighters’ scheduled overtime. Unscheduled overtime is different from scheduled overtime and is calculated as extra pay for additional duty, separate from a firefighter’s regular, scheduled overtime. (Vacation and illness or injury leave that firefighters earn, allows firefighters to take time off of their average 56.5 hour work week with no loss of their regular pay, in accordance with Louisiana State Law (R.S. 33:1995). The only way a firefighter can earn additional pay over his regular salary is to work unscheduled overtime. Jefferson Parish’s high priced PR firm is capitalizing on the pay plan’s complexities to mislead the public. In 1993, Jefferson Parish contracted with MMA, a consulting firm to study fire and rescue services parish wide. The study found the Eastbank Consolidated Fire Department’s current schedule was “most appropriate” and recommended its continuance. It was concluded; the Eastbank Consolidated firefighter’s work schedule, with its mandatory scheduled overtime, was the most flexible and cost effective approach to provide the level of protection East Jefferson businesses and residents pay for and deserve. The proposal by fire administrators ignores the recommendations of the MMA Fire Study and is designed to eliminate scheduled overtime and will result in substantial reductions in firefighter salaries. Fire service will be reduced or taxpayers will pay much higher manpower costs. No other Jefferson Parish pay plan has ever been modified without a thorough independent review or study. 
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#2
12-30-2008
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Understanding the pay structure
Citizen inquiry, not familiar with how the pay structure was decided from way back. A few questions are in order. No offense is meant by these questions, its just I am not familiar with the way things are done in fire fighter adminstrative structures.
Q1 Why does a work week need to be structured as a set predetermined time amount versus just a clock in clock out procedure for actual hours worked? Q2 There is an article stating that most firefighters make $70,000 per year and some over $100,000 a year. Would you please explain how a firefighter gets to that salary, and what the requirements are to earn that salary. At first lgance it seems high however, as I stated in the beginning, I am not familiar with how this works. (I do agree that the pay raises were deserved, it took forever for that to be accomplished. This is not part of the question I am asking here). Thank you in advance for your response. ~Counsellor
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#3
01-02-2009
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Counselor, We appreciate all inquiries from citizens of Jefferson Parish, and no offense is taken by the question you pose to us. Please first remember that while the issue or firefighter pay cuts are important to us, it was not the first issue. The first issue was about public safety and safety for firefighters. In April 2008, complaints from the firefighters to fire administrators that the fire department was being mismanaged, and the budget was being depleted by wasteful spending were met with unresponsive leadership. The incompetent administrators were censured by unanimous vote in October 2008 and three weeks later the retaliatory act of this proposal to cut firefighters pay and benefits was introduced. In October 2006 our long awaited pay plan increase had been approved by Parish President Broussard and by unanimous vote of the Jefferson Parish Council. Please also be aware that the Jefferson Firefighters sent copies of every issue of concern with supporting documents to the Jefferson Parish President and to all of the council members. The council members had refused to meet with firefighters on these issues even though they will be voting to cut firefighter pay contradicting the parish contracted study in completed in 2006. The Parish President and Council simply refer the public to a web site with misleading information that has been provided by Jefferson Parish's hired public relations firm to confuse these issues. It is also important to note that members of the council and Parish President Broussard hide behind a self-imposed gag order about pending litigation. However, there is no court order stating they cannot speak with the firefighters or citizens. Q1 Why does a work week need to be structured as a set predetermined time amount versus just a clock in clock out procedure for actual hours worked? Firefighters work every hour they get paid. Federal Law (The Fair Labor Standards Act) requires the schedule for firefighters to be averaged by calculating the hours worked in a year and then dividing those hours by 52 weeks to calculate the average hours worked per week. This ultimately saves fire departments money nationwide. Firefighters pay is calculated nationwide according to federal guidelines (firefighters are not opposing this method). This allows hours that would be considered overtime hours for an average person to be averaged into the following week's hours as base or regular hours (opposed to overtime hours the week they are actually worked). The complexities of this pay plan have been used by the Public Relations firm to confuse the public. Some weeks firefighters work 96 hours and some weeks firefighters work 24 hours. We are told that because of the irregular hourly schedule the parish payroll system is not able to calculate a firefighters schedule as firefighters currently are not paid overtime until after they have achieved an average of 48 hours in a work week, as opposed to the rest of Jefferson Parish employees, who are paid overtime after a 40 hour work week. If you go to any fire house in our district and ask to see a firefighters pay check you will see that he is paid a base rate of pay and a given hourly rate and the same rate is used for the overtime rate. To pay firefighters for hours they do not work would be illegal and against Federal Law. Instead of having a payroll program that can calculate the payroll in a way that is easy to read, parish payroll calculates hours at the hourly rate and one and a one half hours for every hour worked, as opposed to calculating the hourly rate at base rate plus half for overtime hours. Confusing as it might seem, this accomplishes the same amount of pay that firefighters should receive for the hours worked, but for payroll accounting purposes is shown on a check stub in a different calculation (Firefighters do not necessarily disagree with the pay method used but is unfair to use it to mislead the public about firefighters salaries. At the time this issues was raised you will find news articles and/or news video where parish administrators said, "Firefighters are paid for hours they do not work." Once firefighters dispelled these rumors with facts and exposed that this would be illegal, then the parish administration through their public relations firm changed their claims to say, "Firefighters are being paid overtime, whether they work it or not." This is once again, an attempt by the parish to continue to manipulate the facts and confuse the issues and set a smoke screen of the original issue regarding firefighter and public safety, mismanagement and wasteful spending by incompetent fire department administrators without the credentials that are required in other city or parish governments for the positions they hold. The truth is that in order to provide fire protection as passed by vote of the citizens of our protection district 24 hours a day 7 days a week including holidays, each firefighter is assigned a work schedule for the year according to their assignment. In exchange the firefighter comes to work based on an annual salary for the hours required to provide fire protection around the clock. In the event that the firefighter is hurt State law requires that his income will not be reduced up to 52 weeks while he recovers. This is better explained in the attached link to the Louisiana State Law: La. R.S. 33:1995 Every fireman in the employ of a municipality, parish or fire protection district to which this Sub-part applies, shall be entitled to full pay during sickness or incapacity not brought about by his own negligence or culpable indiscretion for a period of not less than fifty-two weeks. In New Orleans Firefighters Ass’n v. Civil Service Com’n of City of New Orleans, 422 So. 2d 402, 412 (La. 1982), when considering a case involving La. R.S.33:1995 the Louisiana Supreme Court held that the provisions of La. R.S.33:1991, et seq. are “remedial and humanitarian in purpose and must not be interpreted narrowly. The Supreme Court described the “motive and purpose” behind these laws was “plainly to make effective the legislature’s conception of public policy that substandard labor conditions in city, parish and other local fire departments should be eliminated as being injurious to the safety and welfare of the public as well as detrimental to the health, efficiency and morale of firefighters. To provide a further history at the link below you can see where firefighters outside of our organization and protection area sued another fire department in Jefferson Parish where the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the firefighter. It was this law suit filed by a firefighter on the west bank of Jefferson Parish that began the series of attacks on our department in regards to this benefit that is protected by State Law. It was after this case that Jefferson Parish administrators began an assault on our department in regards to sick leave benefits and scheduled work hours. The truth behind this is that once the State Supreme Court ruled against Jefferson Parish in the above case they went immediately to the Sate Legislature to have the law changed. After multiple requests from other parish and city governments Jefferson Parish's proposed changes to the law failed to pass by vote in the legislature. Once Jefferson Parish administration failed to pass their proposed changes to the law they are now attempting to make changes to the schedule so that the hours are not considered a part of the normal work schedule so that in the event that a firefighter is injured they can reduce the firefighter's pay circumventing the intent of State law. This attempt by Jefferson Parish is clearly contradicting the law described by the Louisiana Supreme Court's quote when describing the laws that Jefferson Parish is attempting to circumvent where the Supreme Court said, The “motive and purpose” behind these laws was “plainly to make effective the legislature’s conception of public policy that substandard labor conditions in city, parish and other local fire departments should be eliminated as being injurious to the safety and welfare of the public as well as detrimental to the health, efficiency and morale of firefighters". In closing, on this question, firefighters in Jefferson have struggled to get Jefferson Parish administration to accept this concept that was set forth by the legislature as public policy and is now the basis of some of the law suits filed by firefighters against Jefferson Parish due to their refusal to comply with law that is recognized and implemented by other fire departments around the state. Q2 There is an article stating that most firefighters make $70,000 per year and some over $100,000 a year. Would you please explain how a firefighter gets to that salary, and what the requirements are to earn that salary. At first lgance it seems high however, as I stated in the beginning, I am not familiar with how this wo rks. (I do agree that the pay raises were deserved, it took forever for that to be accomplished. This is not part of the question I am asking here). The parish contracted a public relations firm to confuse the public with one line accusations that require detailed explanations. Because the pay plan involves multiple positions within the fire department, I will answer this question in multiple parts. There are several conflicting articles with statements by Jefferson Parish officials regarding firefighter pay. Here are a few links to other articles or media outlets detailing and researching firefighter's salaries. In 2006 before the mismanagement and unwise spending issues were made public by the Jefferson Firefighters, the Times-Picayune researched and acknowledged firefighters' base salary with overtime included as part of the full pay plan review. Firefighters went 17 years with only a 1 and half percent increase in the pay plan with a base pay of $17,000 per year before the 35% pay increase that went into effect in the beginning of 2007. The study as shown in the article took the firefighters' full benefit package into account, including the now disputed overtime. It also compared benefit packages of similar departments of equal size in the same region. This study was contracted and paid for by Jefferson Parish. (Please see the link below that is the full article). July 31, 2008 "The East Bank Consolidated Fire Department's 253 employees make it one of Louisiana's largest suburban forces. It is one of only four in the state to enjoy a top Class 1 fire protection rating. The base salary for a rookie firefighter is $23,524, but department employees annually average about $58,000, said Deano Bonano, Broussard's aide who oversees the fire department". (Please see the link below that is the full article that contains the above quote from CAA Bonano). No less than 3 months later on October 23, 2008 Jefferson Parish Administration revises their claim to say, "Firefighters now make an average of $70,000 a year." "Administrators pointed out that fire department employees enjoy some of the highest salaries in the state. Officials listed 46 firefighters making between $100,000 and $145,000 a year, and said the average member makes about $70,000 a year". Also in this article you will find a statement from another parish official: "If we keep paying overtime at the rate we're paying now, we'll run out of money," said Bert Smith, an aide to Broussard. "And that would mean layoffs sometime in the future or increases in property taxes." Then on December 11, 2008 not even 3 weeks after Bert Smith made the above statement President Broussard contradicted his staff's previous claims: "Contradicting his own staff, Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard said Wednesday, "That cutting overtime hours is unnecessary to keep the East Bank Consolidated Fire Department well-financed." The December 11, 2008 article also reviewed payroll data and came to this conclusion. "But an average firefighter making about $41,000 a year stands to lose $8,000 in scheduled overtime pay under the changes, according to payroll data." (Please see the links below -full articles). 10-23-2008 article 12-11-2008 article http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/eastjefferson/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1228976548231400.xml&coll=1 So in answering your question, it is quite obvious that even parish administrators cannot report with accuracy what firefighters make as an annual salary. The actual salary including the regular overtime is more in line with what was reported in the December 11, 2008 article above of 41,000 a year. We do not dispute that as firefighters gain time and rank in the fire department and become more experienced by training and certification through LSU, FEMA, along with in house training and additional courses, they in time earn more pay in compliance with the pay plan thay was recommended by the LStaff Study, approved by President Broussard and adopted by the council in October of 2006. There are top administrative staff, such as chiefs that are mandated by State Law to be paid 40 percent more than what his firefighters make and he will eventually earn six figures. Most firefighters will not achieve the rank of Chief in the department and even when they do it is for a short period of time when considering a 30 year career. Some firefighter's don't progress through the ranks to become senior officers that would reflect six figure salaries. Much of the money used to manipulate the current salaries came from additional overtime hours that the department was reimbursed for by agencies such as FEMA for time that is worked during disaster training or during a disaster. Not only are these costs reimbursed to Jefferson Parish, they should not be included as added salary paid to the firefighters. It is for unscheduled overtime ( similar to a police officer working a detail) only Jefferson Parish works as a go between. It is not allowed to be included in calculating the firefighter's salary according to federal law and is not a cost to the citizens of Jefferson Parish. It is additional income outside of what is required to provide around the clock fire protection or the normal work schedule. Please see the below article for proof of this type of reimbursement: Additionally, the incompetent fire administrators violated State law and allowed positions in the department to go unfilled for many years. This created the need for additional personnel as opposed to regularly scheduled personnel on the job. Firefighters and Senior Officers were called in to work causing added overtime hours in addition to the normal scheduled overtime hours firefighters already work in their average 56.5 hour work week. In summary, the administration created the need for overtime by not hiring and subsequently complains that overtime costs are through the roof. These positions are already included and are funded in the department's budget as regular hours when fire personnel are hired at regular pay to fill these positions. Subsequently, firefighters now decline any overtime hours until parish administration stops trying to mislead the public by insinuating this additional pay is part of their regular salary. In return, fire department administration have ordered firefighters under the threat of disciplinary action out of their assigned positions at fire stations to answer calls at the Communications Center to fire alarm dispatch and to be paid at a higher rate, forcing them to make more money to continue to misrepresent their salary. Last, some of this pay comes from private business. As an example if a hotel or business has a problem with their sprinkler system or automatic fire alarm the State Fire Marshall will give the business owner the choice to shut down or hire off duty firefighters to stand fire watch until the system is operational. In previous years, firefighters who worked fire watches for private businesses were paid directly by the business owners. Recently, fire administrators demanded that the businesses pay the department directly, and then in turn, they would pay the firefighters. In some cases the fire department charged more than what they paid firefighters. These funds are also being included in the figures used by Jefferson Parish and their contracted public relations firm to mislead the public. Jefferson Parish is once again, attempting to confuse the public on overtime issues by lumping them all together, when clearly as described above, scheduled overtime in the average 56.5 hour work week are quite different from detail duty of unscheduled overtime. In closing, I refer you to the payroll calculations in the above Times Picayune articles so you can read the full description of firefighter salaries and the previous article of how the firefighter's pay was just recently brought to the average for this region with a full review of benefits and pay. We can also refer you to another study contracted and paid for by Jefferson Parish in 1993 called the MMA group (This study is available in Jefferson Parish Libraries). After a full review, the MMA group concluded that paying firefighters the normal overtime hours they have worked for the last 50 years was the most cost effective way to cover the necessary hours as opposed to hiring new employees and paying additional benefits. The proposed changes are in direct contradiction to what Jefferson Parish's study recommended as the most cost effective approach. The proposed changes to firefighters schedule and overtime will not only hurt the firefighters, but will cost the citizens more money to accomplish the same work. If the proposed cuts go into effect, it will mean that the long overdue raise passed by the Council in October of 2006, would be taken away, also contradicting Jefferson Parish's contracted study by the L- Staff group that reviewed our pay and benefits. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
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