Hermosa Beach Firefighters sue city in overtime pay dispute
Hermosa Beach Mayor Jeff Duclos presents a certificate of commendation in May 2012 to Hermosa Firefighters for saving the life of a resident whose heart had stopped. This week, Duclos expressed disappointment with the department for a lawsuit firefighters filed against the city. Photo by Mike Ruiz
Just weeks before Hermosa Beach firefighters formally transitions to the Los Angeles County Fire Department, most of the personnel in the soon-to-be dissolved Hermosa Beach Fire Department have sued the city in a dispute over wages.
Thirteen firefighters joined in a federal Fair Labor Standards Act complaint filed on Dec. 4. The complaint alleges that the city deprived firefighters of overtime pay by improperly calculating the number of hours owed, and the rate at which firefighters were to be compensated.
The complaint does not identify a dollar amount that the plaintiffs are seeking. However, the act allows prevailing parties to recoup up to twice the amount of compensation they were deprived of, along with attorney’s fees.
In response to the lawsuit, the City issued a press release Monday evening that states in part, “Ten of the highest paid employees in 2016 were firefighters, with compensation ranging from $156,000 to $307,761. In 2017, the highest paid city employee, also from the fire department, will reach over $400,000 in total compensation.”
Overtime and additional pay make up a significant share of this income. In 2016, the highest base salary for a Hermosa firefighter was $110,713, which ranked ninth among base salaries in the city, according to Transparent California, a website that collects public employee salary data. But overtime and other pay pushed firefighters to the top of the total pay list: not counting health benefits, firefighters drew six of the eight highest incomes for Hermosa employees last year, including the four highest.
The complaint ties the allegedly improper payment practices back to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) reached between the city and the firefighters in December 2014.
At the time, Hermosa’s department was struggling with significant staffing issues. In 2010, facing budgetary shortfalls in the wake of the financial crisis, the city switched to a “five-man” shift to be filled by the city’s 15 firefighters. The small size put a strain on department personnel, who had to work long hours or cancel vacations when one of their coworkers became ill or injured — issues which ultimately provided the impetus for the switch to the county. The Hermosa Beach Firefighters Association unanimously endorsed the move to the county in September 2016.
The suit was filed by Corey Glave, a Hermosa-based attorney. Reached by an Easy Reader reporter, Glave said, “We’re not going to be making any comments. We don’t try our cases in the media.”
Glave’s LinkedIn profile identifies him as a labor and employment attorney specializing in the representation of police and firefighters. According to a 2010 Easy Reader article, in the past Glave frequently represented police officers suing Hermosa. The article states that in December 2008, then City Councilmember Michael Keegan “complained of the frequency of police officer lawsuits against the city, and called for a report on how much money the city had spent fighting lawsuits by Glave.”
City Attorney Michael Jenkins said that the city was still studying the complaint and could not provide answers to submitted questions. But in the city’s statement, Mayor Jeff Duclos said he was “disappointed” by the firefighters’ decision to sue, and that the issues addressed in the lawsuit had not come up in negotiations with the department.
“We have been negotiating in good faith for the better part of a year with their union on a host of issues, and this Fair Labor Standards Act issue never came up” Duclos said. According to records, the City Council has negotiated with the firefighters association in closed session at least three times in the past two months, and approved an update to the MOU in June.
Aaron Marks, president of the Hermosa Beach Firefighters Association and a named plaintiff in the case, did not respond to a request for comment. But in an interview at the time the firefighters endorsed the switch to the county, Marks said that the move could eventually create issues over compensation, especially retirement benefits, for HBFD members. Marks said that the department planned to bring in a consultant to further suss out the consequences of switching over to the county.
At the time, Marks said it was likely that more recently hired firefighters will be unaffected, but that more senior personnel could have to extend their careers to lock in certain benefits.
“It could change when guys could retire,” Marks said. “For me, it will probably add some years.I’ll probably have to work a few more years than I had originally planned to.”
The city had planned to formally transition to L.A. County Fire on Dec. 6, but has delayed the transition because many department personnel had been dispatched to fight wildfires. The switch is now set for Dec. 30. A ceremony honoring Hermosa firefighters is scheduled for Dec. 29 at the Hermosa Beach Community Center.