Samantha Melamed
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — A top-ranking commander at the Philadelphia Fire Department is under investigation for harassment — while at least two employees who made complaints against him have been questioned in a separate investigation into overtime abuse.
Both sides claim they are being targeted in retaliation for exposing misconduct within the 2,800-member department, raising questions about accountability and the waste of tax dollars in one of the city’s critical public-safety agencies.
In December, the city hired the Campbell Durrant law firm to investigate “complaints of sexual harassment against an individual in the fire department,” according to the $35,000 contract. The harassment probe is focused on Deputy Commissioner for Operations Anthony Hudgins — the department’s second-in-command, known as Car 2.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia Inspector General Alexander DeSantis launched a separate investigation into alleged overtime abuses, including the case of one paramedic who more than tripled her $94,000 base salary. DeSantis declined to answer questions about the scope of the probe, or what initiated it.
Hudgins said the concerns he raised about theft of time prompted the IG’s office to investigate.
“I uncovered fraud, and it seems like I’m the one being penalized,” Hudgins told the Inquirer. He declined to discuss either investigation in detail but said the law firm is investigating complaints from fewer than 10 employees. “Someone went around shopping for people to put in a claim against me after I found fraud,” he said.
Michael Bresnan , president of Local 22 of the International Fire Fighters and Paramedics Union, said he’d heard of as many as a dozen workers with complaints against Hudgins.
“He’s in a powerful position,” Bresnan said, adding that the number of complaints is concerning. “The math of it, something is going on.”
Kristin Bray, chief counsel for Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, said in a statement that the administration is aware of the allegations and committed to addressing them if they are substantiated.
“A safe and healthy work environment for all employees and fiscal responsibility are essential to the Parker administration,” the statement said.
‘I’m not going to take this treatment’
A department staffer said she was targeted in the overtime probe in retaliation for her complaints against Hudgins. She and a second woman, who recently quit the department, both said they had spoken with former Philadelphia assistant city solicitor Tiffany Allen, a lawyer from Campbell Durrant, after making complaints against the deputy commissioner last year. Allen did not return a phone call on Monday.
The women spoke with The Inquirer on condition of anonymity, saying they feared further retaliation.
One accuser alleged that Hudgins demanded hugs, pulled her hair, and unbuttoned his pants in her cubicle, telling her he needed to adjust his shirt. She also claimed he’d used intimidation tactics to pressure her to adjust timesheets for an aide and pushed her to help him investigate about 10 people he suspected of overtime abuse, including a woman who had accused him of harassment. She said she quit her job to avoid him but feared speaking on the record now because she may seek to return to work in the department at some point.
The other woman accused Hudgins of inappropriate comments and touching. “You have enough and say, ‘I’m not going to take this treatment from nobody,’” she said.
She added that since making the report she’s faced backlash, and some days has anxiety attacks upon arriving at work.
Hudgins denied most of those allegations in an interview with The Inquirer. He acknowledged that he has sometimes hugged employees, either to comfort those who were struggling or by way of greeting.
“We call it dapping up in my community,” he said.
Fire Commissioner Jeffrey W. Thompson confirmed both active investigations but declined to answer further questions. Thompson also declined to confirm Hudgins’ current employment status.
Bresnan and the two women who accused Hudgins said they were told he has been barred from the Fire Administration Building at Second and Spring Garden streets while the investigation plays out.
Hudgins denied that he has been barred from coming to work. He is still in his post, he said, but had “removed myself from the situation.”
Bresnan said he had sought clarity about Hudgins’ status from the Campbell Durrant attorneys but did not get a response.
Bresnan and Hudgins have clashed in the past. Hudgins and Club Valiants, a group representing Black firefighters, sought to oust Bresnan over the union’s endorsement of President Donald Trump in 2020. Hudgins had been the first Black board member in Local 22 history and accused the union leadership of fostering a racist atmosphere.
A 30-year employee of the department, Hudgins previously served as a battalion chief and as the department’s Special Investigations Officer, where he handled harassment complaints and other delicate matters raised by Fire Department staffers.
Sexual harassment claims have long plagued the male-dominated department. Thompson told City Council last week that the department takes every claim “very seriously” and that it updated its internal protocols last year.
“If those issues become disciplinary, we refer those to our Special Investigations Officer, who will take appropriate action,” he said.
Working overtime
DeSantis, the city inspector general, acknowledged his investigation in a sworn affidavit filed with the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, in response to a Right to Know request The Inquirer filed in January seeking overtime records for 15 Fire Department employees.
DeSantis’ affidavit claimed the records could not be released because they “directly pertain to an active investigation ... regarding overtime practices of specific city employees.” The affidavit did not indicate when the investigation began.
The department is on track to spend an all-time high of $86 million on overtime this year as it contends with a 18% job vacancy rate — particularly driven by a 27% shortage of emergency medical staff, such as paramedics and EMTs.
In budget testimony last week, fire officials told City Council they plan to hire 200 more paramedics and EMTs over the next year, in part to reduce overtime spending.
City payroll records show that 89 firefighters and paramedics made more than $100,000 in overtime last year, including two paramedics who roughly tripled their $94,000 base salaries.
Two dozen staffers earned enough overtime to surpass the fire commissioner’s $255,000 salary. And about 500 workers, or more than one in six staffers departmentwide, took home at least $50,000 in overtime.
One paramedic, who said she’d been questioned about her overtime, said her six-figure overtime haul was a result of accepting every extra shift available on her off-hours. She said each shift required the approval of multiple supervisors, making fraud virtually impossible.
Hudgins said his analysis of overtime abuse was disrupted by the harassment probe. He said he’d uncovered employees claiming overtime schedules that were “impossible to do. You would have to work around the clock every single day of the week.”
“It’s going to be a big black eye” for the department, he said.
—Staff writers Anna Orso and Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.
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