By Elizabeth Gibson
The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS — Township fire departments have long struggled with a state law that caps the number of hours part-time firefighters can work.
Ohio law says that part-time township employees who don’t receive health and pension benefits aren’t supposed to work more than 1,500 hours a year. At least, the law appears to say that.
“Every few years, someone throws up a red flag that someone went over, and they start asking questions,” said Porter Welch, fire chief of Scioto Township in northern Pickaway County and an attorney for the Ohio State Firefighters Association.
“But there are no clear answers. It’s a vague law.”
The point of the rule is to ensure that departments don’t overwork cheap labor rather than hire full-time firefighters and paramedics. But the wording of the law defines a part-time employee as someone hired with the “expectation” that the person won’t work more than 1,500 hours a year. Lawyers say that expectation can be a flexible word.
But Fire Chief Crystal Dickerson of Jefferson Township in eastern Franklin County said it’s a “grave concern.” She discovered this year that nine of her part-time employees went over the limit in 2009. Two worked an average of 37 hours a week, each earning about $22,000 with no benefits. Another man worked more than 2,000 hours.
A typical full-time employee works a bit more than 2,900 hours a year and makes $50,000 to $75,000 plus benefits.
“We had asked them to be very diligent not to do that, but they did,” Dickerson said of exceeding the limit. “There was so much going on that it just happened. It was a shock.”
Jefferson Township does not have a firefighters union, but an anonymous letter has been circulating in the office, and a separate e-mail has been sent to the news media, saying that part-time employees have been shortchanged.
Clifford Mason, fire chief of Madison Township in southeastern Franklin County and president of the Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association, said part-time employees are essential because they cost less and can fill shifts when full-time workers are busy.
It can be a beneficial arrangement for part-timers, too, Mason said. People who work full time in one department can make extra money in another, and departments often select full-time employees from the pool of part-timers, so it’s a good way to get a foot in the door, he said.
Dickerson said she thinks the anonymous e-mailer must be trying to pressure her department to hire more full-time employees, which she said she’s working on. She hopes to submit proposals for new positions to the board of trustees by next month.
Although township policy reiterates the 1,500-hour rule, Dickerson said there are no guidelines for what to do if someone exceeds the limit. She simply told employees to watch their weekly hours better.
Dickerson said it’s an awkward situation: They’re good employees, and it’s counterintuitive to discipline someone for wanting to do more work. She said she doesn’t know whether people intentionally racked up hours or not.
Jefferson Township officials sent a reminder about the 1,500-hour rule to employees in September, but with a new chief, a growing township and shifting roles in the department, the extra hours slipped through, said Dickerson said, who took over as chief last summer.
Don Brosius, a lawyer who represents several local townships, said extra hours are common when a full-time employee is injured or retires and the part-timers have to cover until the position is filled. He doesn’t see it as a big deal.
It seemed to be a consensus that no one is going to ignore a fire just because all the part-time employees have maxed out their annual hours.
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