Fire Chief Recommends Curtailing Staff’s Overtime
Los Angeles Fire Chief William Bamattre recommended Monday that the city restrict the number of days in a row that firefighters are allowed to work and the amount of overtime they may collect in a month, although the city would have to negotiate with the firefighters union before establishing the limits.
Responding to articles in The Times in May that showed Los Angeles firefighters earn more in overtime than their peers nationwide--with some collecting more than $100,000 in total annual compensation and working as many as 12 consecutive days--Bamattre told the City Council’s Public Safety Committee that the department needs a more objective system of preventing fatigued firefighters from staying on the job.
Captains now decide whether employees are too tired to pick up an extra shift; Bamattre suggested Monday that the city set a policy preventing firefighters from working more than five consecutive days in a month.
But Bamattre and the three lawmakers who comprise the panel agreed that the only way to reduce overtime significantly is to hire more firefighters.
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