Posted on 02/20/2011 8:40:43 AM PST by redreno
As investigators probe the potential abuse of sick leave by firefighters, Clark County officials say they will find many instances of employees scheduling sick time off weeks or months in advance. Among them is a firefighter who used the benefit to help carve out 53 consecutive days off in 2009.
(Excerpt) Read more at lasvegassun.com ...
Unions have their own “licensed physicians” who will hand ANYONE a “sick” slip out on the street. All you have to do is ask for one.
Corruption in your back yard ... who’da thunkit? This is particularly unpleasant, though, because one wants to respect firefighters (and police) on principle. It’s truly disappointing when they’re lazy union drones.
The local news has been all over this, at least on the most conservative of the alphabet stations. I’m not surprised; since my ex-roommate retired from the county fire station admin (payroll section) there hasn’t been anyone with the intestinal fortitude to catch the problem and blow the whistle.
Of course, now, with the housing like it is, the local governments don’t have enough tax revenue to keep paying like they used to. Lots of lay-offs coming. The new governor even wants to stop rent rebates for seniors. I emailed his office, but it looks as though I need to do it again.
She was good at what she did.
please don’t lump police in with fire. Police overtime is largely event-driven. Yes there are some bad apples, usually administrators who use the events to pad their overtime when the line guys are doing all the work, the administrators show up to “supervise” when in fact the line officers and supervisors handle the real work. Those types are not part of the labor group that covers rank and file but the media make no distinction between a police officer and a police lieutenant, or for that matter between a firefighter and a battalion chief. As to firefighters, they have been able to swap shifts for overtime and schedule sicktime forever. It is a thoroughly corrupt system. (full disclosure, I’m a cop with 21 years on and a member of my association’s board of directors) We told fire union leaders that they could cure their public relations problems by simply going to four, ten hour shifts. I don’t see a reason why firefighters have to be paid to sleep or why they can’t do shift work. I have two small kids at home and they bring home all kinds of sickness from school, not to mention the less than reputable types that I have to arrest and put in my patrol car. I guarantee I didn’t call in sick ten days all of last year, whether for myself or my kids. The sick leave abuse is finally coming home to roost. I for one would love to see prosecutions, whether against a corrupt firefighter or a cop....
She was good at what she did.
Who is "she"??
Cops and Firefights are among the worst in committing benefits fraud in the nation.
You go to any local newspaper and you will see plenty of stories of corruption by government employees.
Yet, strangely most of them never get prosecuted. Gee, I wonder why?
That entire pay scale is nuts.150,000 in pay, 52,000 to pension and 20 odd to health. I’ll bet no private sector 300,000 $ a year employee gets 52 grand toward retirement/pension, the firemen are hosing the taxpayers out there.
My roommate who worked in payroll for the county fire department.
According to the article, these firefighters work only 10 days a month with each workday being 24 hours.
My question is when they take a sick day do they get charged 24 hours for each sick day or only 8 hours?
Remember that 9/11 first responder health care bill that caused so much controversy last year, that Weiner, one of the main sponsors pulled the bill and attacked King verbally for not getting full support for his bill?
Well, what that brouhaha was about was that the health care bill that Weiner had proposed included a clause to unionize ALL FIRST RESPONDERS under a single federalized union, much like the SEIU control state government workers across state lines. The Republicans refused that part of the bill and Weiner lost it.
The idea of the single union is to spread the high costs of inner city first responder pensions and benefits across the whole country, forcing small rural areas to share the costs of expensive inner city police and firemen.
I did not intend to imply that issues with police and fire department are identical, or that all departments have serious problems with abuse. There have been some well-publicized incidents of police corruption, of course, but on the whole, I like to assume that both police and fire personnel are honest - and potentially heroic - public servants. That is why it is more disappointing when they are not than when (for example) county commissioners turn out to be crooks again: we expect that!
I can see scheduling sick leave if, for example, you’ve made an appointment for your annual physical or a colonoscopy, and there’s not a non-work day on which you could get those appointments. Other than that, though ... it does seem very dishonest, like planning to be sick on a Monday.
Oh, I see! Thanks, that makes sense.
All regular fire departments, as opposed to volunteer fire departments, either work 24 hours on and 24 hours off, with one day off every other week, meaning when they get a day off it is sandwiched between 2 days they were off anyway, so they get 3 days off in a row; or 24 on and 48 off, meaning their day off gives them 5 days in a row off. That means they work 4 days out of 15. In addition, with most, the fireman's job is their retirement and they make the real money doing other things on their frequent days off. Also, while they are "working", they are mostly playing cards, dominoes, probably computer games now, ,or sleeping. Well, they do have to cook for themselves or order something delivered, but they are provided with well equipped kitchens to do the job.
They have ample training to do what they do and they perform their duties, just as policemen do, with self-protection and the protection of their team members as their upper most priority. They like to say they are there to serve but those they are serving are not #1.
The military are the same in the training and volunteering aspect, and in that only a few actually engage an enemy. Yet, in all these fields we want to have the best and the most dedicated and we want them to be at their best when the time comes to do their duty. That is why it disgust many of us when we see fat law enforcement officers.. Funny, but in my experience I never see fat firemen, and they should be the fattest, nor fat military people. It is always fat policemen. That cause a loss of respect for law enforcement.
I should also include teachers in my group of people who should receive fair pay and lots of respect, for, like the others, they are very important for our society. But like the others, though they are appreciated for their dedication (for those who really are dedicated), the crying about their being overworked and underpaid should fall on deaf ears.
As an administrator my job was to minimize overtime by my officers. As you so accurately stated, police work is event driven. Years ago, we were required to complete all reports before we went home even if it meant overtime. For the last 10 years this overtime is triaged into cases that need completion now, and those that can wait until you come back. The down side is that sometimes people have to wait an extra day or two for a report but the long run is that is saves money.
Fire Departments are a whole different critter. They have nothing but time after the first 2 hours of their 24 hour shift. The most rabid union people I know are firefighters. I am certified firefighter I and II since I was a public safety director. I have profound respect for volunteer part paid fire fighters. 78% of fire fighters are volunteer part paid. When I really want to ‘p’ off firefighters I mention that they could become part time or volunteer if they really cared about their community.
The current trend is to look at multiple shifts during which fire fighters stay awake instead of sleeping. The down side is you may need more fire fighters to staff. For example, if you need 3 trucks with 3 firefighters 7 days a week, you would at a minimum need 27 under the 24 hours shift. Going to 12’s, may require you to have 36 fire fighters (9x4 since there are 4 sets of 12 hour shifts in a week).
I went a little off track but it is some points to ponder. Many of us in public safety administration understand what is going on. The rank and file generally do not. I think they are learning, though.
Ha! If I pulled anything like that i would have been brought up on charges. If you were sick for 3 days you needed a doctors excuse. And you better be seriously injured or have pneumonia or worse. Expect someone to come to your house and check on you. Don;t even think about being seen out in public or you were losing 2 weeks pay.
Call in sick a day before or after scheduled days off more than once in two years and you lose two weeks pay for “developing a pattern” of sick time abuse.
Know what my union did for us? NOTHING.
I take that back, one time a shop steward gave me some Alka Seltzer cold plus to make it through a midnight shift.
Not all Unions are Created Equal.
see my post #16 please
>This is particularly unpleasant, though, because one wants to respect firefighters (and police) on principle. It’s truly disappointing when they’re lazy union drones.<
Yes it is! Your right 100% but the respect needs to be earned and kept. Unfortunately guys like this blow it.
See my post #16 this thread.
We didn’t even *think* about pulling half this crap these guys are getting away with mentioned in this article. They would have brought us up on charges in a heartbeat. When I worked IA I had no guilty feelings about it myself. I know what I had to do to keep my job, to keep a clean record. I expected no less from anyone else.
Call me a dinosaur ..
>Cops and Firefights are among the worst in committing benefits fraud in the nation.
You go to any local newspaper and you will see plenty of stories of corruption by government employees.
Yet, strangely most of them never get prosecuted. Gee, I wonder why?<
I think that largely depends on geographic area. In my area Cops and Firefighters are the ones who get away with it least. They make examples of them. It is the people in power that really get away without anything happening to them.
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