Sheffield adjusts how it calculates firefighters' pay

SHEFFIELD -- City council members have agreed to change the way the city calculates firefighters' pay periods.

They do not plan, however, to compensate firefighters who claim the city owes them 25 hours of back pay.

City Attorney Vincent McAlister said he recommended the council pay firefighters according to the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act.

He said council members were under the impression the city was in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets guidelines for certain workers, including firefighters and police officers.

"We were averaging their hours over these pay periods so they have the same pay check," Mayor Billy Don Anderson said. "They wanted us to conform to the Fair Labor Standards Act. We instructed the city clerk to do it that way."

City firefighters work a schedule that is different from other city workers.

"Historically, the city has paid them the same amount of money each pay period," McAlister said.

He said that in one pay period, firefighters would get paid for more hours than they actually worked, and in other pay periods, they would get paid less than the hours they worked.

He said there are also "comp days" days, or paid days off, and holiday pay that figures into the mix.

"It's a complex matter," McAlister said. "To simplify the computation method, we recommended to the city council that they go exactly by the hours worked in a particular pay period."

Attorney Nathan Johnson, who represents firefighters who believe they have been short-changed, said firefighters work a 24-hour shift and are off for 48 hours.

Because of that, he said, one pay period comes to 96 hours while the next contains 120 hours.

"By law, they're supposed to get paid overtime for every hour worked over 106 (hours) in a two-week pay period," Johnson said.

He said Sheffield was paying the firefighters for 112 hours in each pay period.

The way the city will now calculate the firefighters' pay will result in paychecks of different amounts since they will be calculated by the actual hours worked.

Lt. Greg Heatherly said Sheffield firefighters' pay is based on a 56-hour work week, "even though the legal work week is 53 hours."

Firefighters, he said, will work 96 hours in one pay period and 120 in the next two.

Johnson said the firefighters he represents believe the way the city calculated their pay has cost them about 25 hours of straight time pay per year.

He said the firefighters want the city to pay them for the 25 hours of pay they feel they should have received.

Heatherly also said firefighters believe the city is being unfair to its rookie firefighters, who must attend school five days a week for 14 weeks to become certified firefighters.

At the end of each week, they must work a 24-hour shift on Saturday. Heatherly said that technically rookies are not certified firefighters and should not be treated like they are when it comes to pay.

"I'll brag on the mayor and council," Johnson said. "They're correcting the problem right now. They've corrected, but haven't voted to pay the guys their back time yet."

According to McAlister, that might not happen.

"We don't feel like they're owed anything," McAlister said.

Johnson said he and the firefighters want to avoid going to court over the issue.

"Hopefully it won't end up there," he said.

Heatherly said the firefighters would decide soon what action they will take.

Russ Corey can be reached at 740-5738 or russ.corey@timesdaily.com.