Forest Service Cuts Them Off : Firefighters Burned Up Over Glitch in Pay Rules

Like hundreds of other U.S. Forest Service personnel, Vicente Romo fought in the recent war against wildfires in Northern California. His enemy was a blaze that, for two weeks in August and September, danced maddeningly along the eastern edge of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

Nine days after he arrived at the scene, 600 miles from his regular assignment as an engine foreman in the Angeles National Forest, somebody told Romo that he had “maxed out.” He wouldn’t get paid any more during that two-week pay period because of a federal regulation that puts a ceiling on the amount of overtime pay most federal employees can earn.

For the next five days, including one round-the-clock stint, the burly firefighter performed his tasks of chopping, digging and hosing as a “volunteer.”

“I don’t mind going and fighting the fires, but let’s get paid for it,” the 46-year-old Romo said.

Under Title V of the U.S. Code, no federal supervisor can exceed in a given pay period the normal biweekly pay of upper-management officials classified as GS-5, who earn $69,976 a year. The cutoff for a two-week period is now $2,682.40.

The same restriction does not apply, however, to state, county or local firefighters, whose employers are reimbursed with federal funds for fighting fires in national forests. For example, state Department of Forestry firefighters are paid for 24 hours a day while on out-of-town assignments, including time-and-a-half for every hour after the first 72 in a week.

A state firefighter of a rank equivalent to Romo’s would earn $4,103.10 for 245 hours during a two-week period, state accounting officials said.

$485,000 Pay Loss

This year, the fires in the Western states were the biggest in 30 years, with about 800,000 acres blackened in 17 national forests. So were the hours of overtime recorded. More than 20,000 people were involved in the firefighting effort. Preliminary reports indicate that during the first two weeks in September--when as many as 86 fires were raging in Northern California, with others in Oregon and Idaho--more than 1,400 Forest Service employees had reached the maximum pay level before the end of the pay period.

The total loss to employees was $485,000, a spokeswoman said.

“This does happen periodically,” said Don Winstead, chief of pay administration for the federal Office of Personnel Management. “It was especially serious this year because of the large number of fires in the Western states.”

He said that his agency’s director, Constance Horner, is preparing a legislative proposal to remedy the situation, perhaps by allowing the policy to be waived in some emergency situations.

Employees Skeptical

But aggrieved federal employees, including some assigned to fires by the National Parks Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, remain skeptical.

“I think it stinks,” said Kenneth Duvall, another Angeles National Forest worker, who “maxed out” after 211 hours on the fire lines in the Tahoe National Forest, although he put in 290 hours during the two-week pay period. “I was working with state parks workers, state firefighters, people from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We were the only ones ‘maxing out.’ ”

Federal firefighters, some of whom have started a petition and a letter-writing campaign, are particularly irked by the fact that many state and county firefighters were paid with federal money.

‘Double Standard’

They also complain that some federal employees--air traffic controllers and test pilots, for example--are specifically exempted from the salary ceiling. “It seems like a double standard there,” said Michael Bergdahl, manager of the Angeles National Forest’s communications center, who “maxed out” during firefighting work last year.

Though the salary restriction is aimed at upper management, Bergdahl said, lower-level managers such as Romo and himself are often hit harder because their pay is lower.

Romo, a 27-year veteran of the Forest Service who has two sons in college, earns $22,642 a year plus overtime.

“It’s a real hardship for people at that level,” said one Forest Service administrator who asked to remain anonymous. “The base pay for an engine foreman is about $18,000. That’s not a lot of money, especially in the L.A. Basin. If you’re interested in having a refrigerator or shoes for your kids, you really depend on that overtime.”

‘Tough Luck’

Romo said that when he reached the maximum pay level in September, he asked to be relieved by a replacement worker. “They came back and said, ‘Hey, tough luck. A lot of people are maxing out. There’s nothing you can do.’ So I stayed there,” Romo said.

Others said they were offered the option of going out on the fire lines with their colleagues or staying in the fire camp, doing nothing. “I wouldn’t want to do that,” said Romo, who supervises four men on a truck that carries 500 gallons of water. “It’s good money for my workers (who are not covered by the salary ceiling). They’ll never make that again. Plus, I’ve got to be there for their safety.”

Forest Service administrators are sympathetic with their employees, but say there is nothing they can do. “The law says there’s a maximum they can earn, but the ongoing emergency doesn’t stop when they reach that point,” said Gary Wilson, the service’s wage and classification specialist.

One-Time Measure

There is a chance that the firefighters will get some back pay. Rep. Norman D. Shumway (R-Stockton) has proposed a one-time measure to reimburse federal employees who reached the maximum pay level during the September and October fires. “It’s not a proposal to change the law, just to compensate these people for that time,” said Shumway’s press secretary, Tracy Smith.

But the disgruntled federal workers are doubtful, given the climate of austerity in Washington. “The word is out,” said the Forest Service administrator who asked that he not be named. “Anything that’s liable to cost the Administration money, we’re not going to do.”