Teamsters File Suit to Halt Pay System for O.C. Firefighters

The Teamsters filed a legal challenge Tuesday seeking to block plans to overhaul Orange County’s volunteer firefighters system as of Jan. 1.

The challenge seeks to convert nearly 600 volunteer firefighters into full-time employees of the Orange County Fire Authority, who then will be represented by the Teamsters union.

The move comes just days before the Fire Authority is scheduled to begin a new volunteer firefighter program that critics say will pay firefighters far less than they had been earning. The plan is opposed by some volunteers, who say it exploits the dangerous work they do. They have turned to the Teamsters for representation.

Until now, the volunteer firefighters that make up roughly half of the 1,200-person force were paid $8 an hour when they responded to a call. The new plan calls for volunteer firefighters to be paid $8 for each response, up to a maximum of $40 for a 24-hour period.

The changes are necessary to bring the Orange County Fire Authority into compliance with federal wage-and-hour laws that prohibit paying hourly wages to civic or charitable volunteers, said Capt. Scott Brown, spokesman for the Fire Authority.

Local 952 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters filed a legal challenge in Orange County Superior Court seeking, among other things, to have the firefighters recognized as employees.