Mandate drives up city's costs

Each morning in Omaha, firefighters across the city are asked to volunteer for overtime or comp time to cover a colleague who is unable to report for duty that day.

The shift commanders have little choice.

All shifts must be filled to meet the city's contractual obligation that four firefighters man a firetruck. And every day, there are shifts to be filled because of sickness, a death in the family or family medical leave.

The compensation time hours accumulated through this daily routine recently came back to haunt Omaha's budget. The cash-strapped city was unexpectedly required to pay out $2 million to 271 firefighters, who decided to cash in their comp “banks” this year.

Some had accumulated 500 hours of comp time.

Critics of the four-firefighter-per-truck requirement say the overtime and comp time issues are examples of why the city needs more staffing flexibility.

“Without flexibility, we're going to always have situations like this year,” City Councilman Franklin Thompson said.

In August, the City Council repealed an ordinance that mandated four firefighters per truck, but the minimum staffing requirement is still part of the firefighters' contract with the city. The contract cannot be summarily changed by the City Council.

Firefighters say the $2 million payout was unusual and unlikely to happen again, since their comp banks are now limited to 120 hours.

They also say the city has used comp time in the past to help balance the budget, by requiring firefighters to take leave time in the form of comp time.

In 2003, firefighters agreed to forgo some of their holiday pay in exchange for compensation days in later years.

“The four-man staffing is not the sole responsibility for these comp times. The comp times were a way for the city, in an earlier budget crisis, to defer payments,” said Steve LeClair, president of the Omaha firefighters union.

Comp banks are unique to government jobs.

In the private sector, federal law requires that employers pay hourly workers for any overtime worked. They cannot ask the employee to take compensatory time as a substitute, said Scott S. Moore, a labor and employment attorney with the Baird Holm law firm in Omaha.

“You're required to pay people for the time they worked and their overtime,” Moore said.

However, federal law made an exception for governments because it was felt that local and state governments needed more flexibility to handle overtime, he said.

Firefighters, police officers and other public safety employees are sometimes required to put in unexpected overtime hours. Originally, comp hours were seen as a way to allow governments to save on overtime costs by giving their employees time off at a later date.

Over time, comp time became a de facto savings plan for some government employees.

LeClair said it isn't always easy for a firefighter to take his comp days off. Staffing is tight, and any days off have to be scheduled far in advance.

“A guy is not going to be allowed to take comp time off and then (we) run a rig short,” LeClair said.

For several years, Omaha firefighters were allowed to accumulate 540 hours in their comp banks. In 2008, a state labor court limited the comp banks to 120 hours.

Some firefighters feared they would lose their comp banks because of the ruling, and that's why they chose to cash out this year.

The Fire Department says the hours were earned and whether the city paid the firefighters this year, or in the year the hours were accrued, it would cost the same. They say it is unlikely to happen again, since much of the comp hours cashed were accumulated before 2008.

“It's still going to cost the city, whether the city paid now or later,” Capt. James Gentile said.

Now, if a firefighter has 120 hours in the comp bank, he or she must take overtime pay for any extra hours worked.

Contact the writer:

444-1309, robynn.tysver@owh.com

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