Ga. firefighters owed back pay after software glitch

The back pay will come in addition to a July settlement in a lawsuit filed by 85 firefighters, which several refused to sign because the error hadn’t been fixed

January 25, 2016 08:50 AM

The Augusta Chronicle

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Augusta firefighters are due even more back pay after city officials acknowledged Friday a software glitch shorted them a portion of overtime pay for 11 months last year.

Fire Chief Chris James told personnel in a Friday letter, obtained by The Augusta Chronicle, that a software module correcting a previous miscalculation of overtime pay “did not carry over and perform as designed” when the city upgraded payroll software last February.

“As a result, the additional $.64 per overtime hour for EMT certification and additional $.96 per overtime hour for paramedic was not received by the applicable employees from February 2015 to December 2015,” the letter said.

City Administrator Janice Allen Jackson said she’d been alerted to the issue by members of the Augusta Professional Firefighters Association and has informed the software vendor, which caused the error that wasn’t caught by city staff.

James said firefighters will be paid correctly for their work this month and that city staff are determining the amount of back pay the certified firefighters are owed.

The back pay will come in addition to a July settlement by the city in a class action lawsuit filed by 85 firefighters, which several refused to sign because the error hadn’t been fixed.

Since 2010 the city has paid firefighters an additional $1,800 annually to maintain certification as a paramedic and $1,200 to be certified as an EMT, but wasn’t including the supplement in calculating their rate of overtime pay, according to the lawsuit filed by fire Lt. Robert Morris in October 2014.

Fire Association President Charles Masters, who met with Jackson about the issue, said the interaction was “very different than what we’re used to.”

Incorrectly calculated overtime pay “has been an issue we’ve been trying to address for more than a year,” Masters said. “This has been my first dealing with the administrator and I have been impressed with her honesty and willingness to correct the problem.”