By FireRescue1 Staff
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A firefighter who also works for a FEMA task force filed a federal lawsuit claiming he is not getting paid enough by the city.
13 News Now reported that Virginia Beach firefighter and FEMA VA Task Force 2 member Greg Vogel said in the lawsuit that the city is not properly paying its portion to the firefighters.
“They’re working for the federal government as volunteers and being paid,” attorney Mike Imprevento said. “They’re also supposed to be paid what they would make as firefighters at home, in order to incentivize their deployment. This is not being done.”
The lawsuit alleges that Vogel was only paid for 152 of the 192 hours he worked while deployed to help after Hurricane Joaquin, and states the city refused to “pay the plaintiff for his first 40 hours of deployment because it was a wash.”
“This is an important issue for them,” Imprevento said. “What they’ve seen, and what they’ve done is incredible, and there’s no reason their pay should be improperly calculated once they return home to safety.”
Virginia Beach Firefighters Organization President Bill Bailey said firefighters have been ignored when fighting this issue for years.
“It is amazing to me and frustrating that the guys on the FEMA team have to resort to going to federal court because they can’t get a straight answer,” he said.