The Company Commander Facebook page has posted articles about a Los Angeles City Fire Department Captain making $598,532 and a Fire Department of New York electrician making $291,563 in 2021. Some readers feel that posting these articles “attack” the individuals.

“IT IS CHEAPER TO PAY OVERTIME THAN CREATE MORE POSITIONS”

There has been a long dance over what staffing a fire department needs to meet its operational requirements. Jurisdictions are resistant to creating new full-time positions, as they require 137% funding to cover salary, worker compensation, annual/sick leave, training, personal protective gear, and other human resource expenditures.

From my professional experience, the jurisdictional administrators and elected leaders struggle with the concept of having a workforce where there are more full-time equivalents (FTEs) on duty than the minimum required seats to fill.

As Steven Knight points out:

Using my old department as an example, the staffing was determined on a legacy basis and that legacy pre-dated most, if not all, of the institutional knowledge. For example, the department staffed five personnel for every seat on an engine, four for every seat on a truck company, and two for every seat on a rescue. While the daily minimum staffing was consistently applied, it had to overcome the inconsistency in staffing for each position. In fairness, these legacy-staffing strategies may have been compromises over the years and budget cycles, but to clearly articulate the strategy at a future moment in time proves difficult.

Knight, S. (2019 March 12) Full time, part time, overtime: How to fill fire department vacancies. firerescue1.com

LOOKING AT LOS ANGELES

In 1987 a Los Angeles County firefighter/paramedic made more money than the fire chief. That firefighter/paramedic got $59,673 in overtime pay along with his $38,811 annual salary. Firefighter/paramedic Wilson worked five consecutive 24-hour shifts a week, every week. That made the Los Angeles Times.

In the late 1990s, a single-role Los Angeles City Fire Department paramedic made significantly more money than the fire chief, working five to seven consecutive 24-hour shifts a week. At that time, Los Angeles City was losing paramedics quicker than they could hire them.

One reason was the “force hire” that ordered paramedics back to work during their scheduled time off. In 1999 there were 60 unfilled LAFD single-role paramedic positions, representing a 14% vacancy rate in the paramedic workforce. If you wanted to make sure that you could get off to take a vacation, enjoy a holiday, or attend a family event, you needed to work 96 hours of voluntary “assigned hire” overtime the previous month.

When I was looking at other fire departments pre-pandemic, the number of firefighters and paramedics willing to work overtime decreases when the number of authorized but unfilled positions exceeds 12%. This is usually when forced, or mandatory, overtime starts in earnest. After a few months of forced overtime, some departments see an increase in injuries, sick leave, retirements/resignations, and a decrease in the number of employees voluntarily signing up for overtime.

A 2015 audit of overtime resulted in the Los Angeles City Council approving the hiring of 48 additional firefighters. At that time, “420 LAFD employees earned more than $100,000 in overtime, and 19 earned more than $200,000. One Fire Captain made $311,316 in overtime on top of a $120,829 salary, for a staggering total of $448,594 in overtime pay. … a Commander at the LAFD informed the Controller’s office that the employee with $311,316 in overtime did obey all policies and procedures regarding overtime.”

Those 48 additional firefighter positions in 2015 did not end the overtime issue.

An audit of the Fiscal Year 2019 expenditures (July 2018 – June 2019) showed that “Eighteen employees of the Los Angeles Fire Department earned more than $200,000 in overtime pay last fiscal year, with one firefighter making $360,010 in overtime.”

The 2019 audit also observed that “More than 90% of sworn police and fire employees last fiscal year received overtime, earning an average of $27,737, while 40% of the city’s general employees, defined as other sworn and civilian workers, received such pay. That group earned an average of $7,528.”

Last week Company Commander posted an article that reported “A captain in the department made $434,394 in overtime in 2021, pushing their gross pay to $598,532 to become the highest-paid employee in the city that year. Another fire captain made $420,055 in overtime, pushing that person’s gross pay to $593,314 in 2021. That person was the second-highest paid employee in the city, according to city payroll records. A firefighter with a base salary of $129,638 made $411,606 in overtime, making that firefighter’s total compensation $554,056.

There were 86 employees in the fire department who made $400,000 or more in 2021. However, the highest ranking employee was not among those. The fire chief made $338,624, or nearly $250,000 less than the fire captain.”

AN ANNUAL DANCE OF MEDIA FUELED OUTRAGE

In many jurisdictions, this dance of overtime outrage occurs every year. Most of the media articles blame or shame the individuals that worked overtime, ignoring the elected officials and public safety leadership that developed and implemented policies that generate overtime. 

Company Commander posts these articles not to pile on blame or shame, but to share examples of the staffing and budgeting issues that every jurisdiction faces. The ICMA and Center for Public Safety Excellence white paper on 21st Century Fire and Emergency Services identified two themes:

• First, the past strategies of deferring conclusive action on critical issues with short-term solutions and leaving them for the next set of leadership is not a sustainable strategy for the future. To continue to do so will worsen the eventual correction(s) that will have to be made.
• Second, we must begin recruiting talent with the mindset, skill sets, and resolve to help build a core organizational culture that can adapt and respond to rapid changes and that are not vested in a 20th century fire service paradigm or antiquated local government bureaucracy.

This white paper may serve as a starting point to change the conversation with jurisdictional leaders and elected officials. We need to develop a new narrative promoting appropriate organizational staffing to meet the expanded and complex role that a fire/rescue department performs in 2022.

AN OBSERVATION ABOUT THE FREQUENCY OF OVERTIME POSTS

Company Commander also posts articles that describe closed fire companies and reduced staffing that some jurisdictions are forced to do to stay within their authorized overtime budget. In terms of number of posts, there are about four times as many posts about closed fire companies, reduced staffing, or “browned-out” fire companies as there are about overtime earnings.

Featured picture: “Firefighters Defend Neighborhood Structures as Hollywood Theater Goes Up in Flames.” LAFD.org. 7/13/2022