Easton firefighter sick time raises eyebrows

8/8/2019 Easton firefighter sick time raises eyebrows

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The Morning Call Archives

Copyright 2010 The Morning Call

ID: 4771164

Publication Date: November 7, 2010Day: SundayPage: A1Edition: FIRSTSection: NewsType: LocalDateline:Column:Length: long

Byline: Christopher Baxter OF THE MORNING CALL

Headline: Firefighter sick time raises eyebrows **In Easton, 46% of sickdays taken have been paired with other non-working days.

Nearly half of all sick days taken by Easton firefighters so far this yearhave been combined with other paid time off, city records show, a patternthat city officials say suggests the department may be misusing its leave.

A Morning Call analysis of city payroll records obtained through the stateRight-to-Know Law found that 46 percent of the total sick days taken byfirefighters through mid-October have been combined with holidays,personal days or vacation days for extended time away from work.

The majority of the department has used those combinations withouthaving to provide a doctor's note.

While Easton has not uncovered any hard evidence of any firefighterbreaking the terms of the union contract, which allows for 21 sick daysper year to be used for personal illness or injury, City AdministratorGlenn Steckman called the results of the analysis "troubling."

"We've talked with four [firefighters] we definitely have a very graveconcern about, and we're putting everyone on notice that this is not goingto be tolerated going forward," he said. "It only takes two or three or fourpeople to misuse sick leave to create problems for everyone else."


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He declined to comment on individual employees, but added: "It's wrongand it has to stop."

Unlike in other city departments, sick days in the fire department almostalways result in overtime and cost taxpayers because of a contract

provision requiring a minimum 10 people per shift. The city's budgetestimates fire overtime will hit an all-time high of $530,000 by the end ofthis year.

Comparatively, Bethlehem in 2010 budgeted $475,000 in overtime for adepartment more than twice the size of Easton's.

Mayor Sal Panto Jr. has called Easton's overtime one of the largest drainson the city budget. He said last week that any employee, fire or otherwise,with a pattern of unusual sick time use has been put on notice.

"I don't believe that you need to use all your sick days before you can becharged with abuse," Panto said. "You can have 100 days on the books,but if you take a sick day when you're not sick and we find out, you'regoing to get disciplined. You may even get terminated."

The problem of sick time and the resulting overtime is not unique toEaston. Allentown and Bethlehem have struggled during the past decadewith the same problems. Across the country, cities once flush with cashfind they can no longer afford not to crack down on abuses.

In Easton, a tight budget year prompted officials to begin looking at sick

time in the fire department because of its impact on overtime costs.Steckman and other officials during the past few months reviewed totalsick days used as well as days paired with other time off.

Steckman said the resulting patterns, similar to those found in TheMorning Call analysis, triggered a meeting between Chief John Bast andseveral employees to discuss the use of sick time. During that meeting,Steckman said, "some had admitted they probably weren't using it right."

For example, Steckman said, one firefighter took sick time when he had alot of family illness. But the contract allows sick time only when the

firefighter himself is ill. In another case, Steckman said, a firefighter usedsick time when he did not get cleared for vacation days.

The problems stem from an ingrained culture throughout City Hall and alldepartments, including fire, that has allowed sick days to be used moreliberally than prescribed in city rules and union contracts, Easton officialssay. Changing that culture, Panto said, is like trying to turn the Titanic.


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Bast said some firefighters had good reason for calling out sick, andothers were counseled on the sick time policy. When asked if sick time isa problem in the department, as the city believes, he said, "As of today, Idon't expect to see a problem."

Terrance Hand, the head of Easton's chapter of the InternationalAssociation of Fire Fighters, denied that anyone admitted misusing sicktime. Hand questioned Steckman's account of meetings with firefightersand called out City Hall for failing to prove any misuse.

"It's sad for them to create this story," Hand said.

Some firefighters get injured during their vacations, he said, which mayresult in sick days following a period of other time off. Some firefightersget sick right before a vacation, he said, which would explain sick days atthe beginning of a break from work. But those situations would not be

unique to firefighters.

Hand added that firefighters also may choose to use holidays, personaldays or vacation days rather than sick days for scheduled surgeries orother extended medical procedures because sick days accrue year to year,while the other time off does not.

In those cases, if they cannot get regular time off, they may use sick timeduring a long break, he said.

When asked about The Morning Call analysis, he said "the numbers mean

absolutely nothing."

Easton firefighters work a 24-hour shift every third day. For example, afirefighter may work 24 hours on Monday, be off Tuesday andWednesday, and work again Thursday. They receive 21 sick days peryear, but must use two sick days to call out an entire, 24-hour shift.

According to payroll records as of mid-October, Easton firefighters havenotched about 419 sick days, an average of nine per firefighter. Thedepartment logged 516 in 2009, 382 in 2008 and 468 in 2007.

Though actual sick time abuse would require a firefighter being caughtaway from home on a sick day, which city officials said has not happened,patterns revealed in The Morning Call analysis reinforced concerns inCity Hall about how the time is being used.

For example, city records show William Williams III began a two-monthbreak this summer with a sick day on June 25, followed by two holidays,another sick day, seven holidays, seven vacation days, a personal day,


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another sick day, and a final holiday Aug. 24.

That would have given him 65 days away from the fire hall.

On four occasions this year, Leo Engelhardt combined sick days with

other forms of time off, records show. In February, he sandwiched apersonal day between two sick days, the analysis found. In June, he paireda sick day with a holiday, and later that month took a sick day with twovacation days.

In September, he again paired a sick day with a vacation day, the analysisfound.

Wayne Unangst, a nearly 36-year veteran, used similar combinations fiveseparate times this year, records show. James Sepulveda, a nearly 19-yearveteran, also combined sick time with other time off on five occasions so

far this year, the analysis found.

Sepulveda said in an e-mail statement that on two occasions a half-shiftseparated his sick time and personal time. On another occasion, he said,he called out sick, took half a vacation day and then worked.

He did not elaborate on why he took the sick days, and did not addresstwo other times he paired sick days with other time off.

"The fact that I have to even defend myself in this matter makes me sick,"Sepulveda said.

Williams, Engelhardt and Unangst declined to comment.

Hand declined to comment on individual firefighters because he said noone should have to justify their use of sick time. He said taxpayers haveno right to know how firefighters are using their sick time, even thoughit's regulated by the contract and often causes overtime.

"It should be assumed that when they're using their sick time, they'reusing it right," Hand said.

The Morning Call analysis also found that about 39 percent of sick dayswere used for a single shift and were not paired with any time off. In theseinstances, firefighters also would not have been required to provide adoctor's note, leaving city officials with few ways to prove misuse.

Only 15 percent of sick days were taken on consecutive shifts and notpaired with other time off, the analysis found. Two or more consecutivesick shifts require a doctor's note, though Steckman concedes that rule has


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not always been enforced.

The firefighters contract allows the city to investigate possible excessiveuse, improper use or abuse of sick leave. It requires firefighters out onsick leave to remain at their homes unless visiting a doctor. Steckman said

he prefers not to have to call employees at home to check on them.

"It shouldn't come to that," he said. "We're all grown men."

But should the city not see changes in the patterns of sick time, Steckmansaid, officials will consider actions against individual firefighters.

Questions from city officials about Easton's firefighter sick time cameabout the time Allentown fired firefighter Richard G. Gawlik Jr. forplaying rounds of golf in August on days he called in sick. A MorningCall analysis last year found Allentown's department to be using sick time

that drove up overtime. Nothing in their contract prevented them fromusing it that way.

The Bethlehem fire department earlier this decade struggled with sickdays and the resulting overtime until the union and city officials agreed toreduce the number of sick days allowed without a doctor's note. A changein 2003 reduced the amount of sick days being used.

Longstanding animosity between the firefighters and Easton officialsintensified in July, when Panto called the department's growing overtime"outrageous" and Steckman said the city was investigating possible sick

time abuse as one culprit.

Five Easton firefighters have made more than $90,000 in overtime since2007, bolstering some annual paychecks by nearly 50 percent, TheMorning Call analysis shows. John Hartman, an 11-year veteran of thefire department, earned $106,350 in overtime during that time, the most ofanyone.

Hand said the long hours and strenuous work cause more sick time amongfirefighters than employees in other professions. In terms of overtime, hecommended those working the most and blamed the city for not hiring

enough people to prevent shifts from falling below the 10-firefighterminimum.

The city would need 42 firefighters for a full complement of three shiftsof 14. In terms of overtime, a full complement is important because thedepartment is allowed to schedule up to four vacation days, personal daysor otherwise excused days per shift.


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Add to that any sick days, injuries and military duty, and sometimes fiveor six men can be on overtime on one shift. The department currently hastwo shifts of 14 men and one shift of 13 men.

Panto in his 2011 budget proposal said he will hire an additional

firefighter for a full complement of 14 on all shifts. He said he anticipatesan overtime reduction of 37 percent to $335,000.

SO FAR IN 2010

* 419.5: Sick days used

* 192 (46 percent): Sick days paired with a holiday, vacation day orpersonal day

* 28 (65 percent): Firefighters who have used that sick-day combination.

* $530,000: Estimated record-setting amount of fire overtime by the endof the year.

ALL SIDES

A Morning Call analysis...

found that 46 percent of sick days taken by Easton firefighters throughmid-October were combined with a holiday, personal day or vacation day.

Easton officials say...

an internal review of payroll records revealed similar patterns of sick daysbeing paired with other forms of time. When confronted, a few employeesadmitted to not using time correctly.

The fire union says...

no firefighter admitted to sick time misuse and the pattern in The MorningCall analysis shows nothing. Firefighter jobs are strenuous, and there is nohard evidence of any misuse.

Easton firefighter sick time raises eyebrows

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