Feb. 07--Mayor Michael B. Coleman has ordered the city's Department of Public Safety to fix a policy that allows firefighters to sit behind a desk while recovering from an injury and still earn full pay, sometimes for years.
Coleman said he met with Safety Director Mitchell J. Brown this week and asked Brown to make it a priority to amend the Fire Division's light-duty policy in response to a Dispatch investigation that revealed that more than a dozen firefighters had been on light duty for more than a year.
Light duty allows injured firefighters to work at a desk in a temporary position while they recover. Other firefighters are then paid additional money to work at a higher rank or on overtime to cover the regular shifts of those on light duty.
The policy is supposed to limit light duty to 90 days, except in rare cases. In one case, a battalion chief has been on light duty for six years, costing the city more than $1 million.
"The mayor was unaware of the issue until he read it in the paper on Sunday," said Dan Williamson, Coleman's spokesman. "He had a discussion with the safety director and said it needs to be a priority to get a policy in place."
Brown declined to be interviewed for this story, but his spokeswoman, Amanda Ford, said he met with fire administration and human-resources workers yesterday to come up with a policy.
"Hopefully, after this meeting we will have a plan to get something implemented as soon as possible," Ford said.
Fire Chief Gregory A. Paxton and union President Jack Reall have both asked for a policy amendment for years, according to emails obtained through public-records requests. They both want an end date that weans firefighters off light duty and back into their normal positions or possibly into disability retirement.
Reall said the union is agreeable to such a policy as long as the union is involved in the process and can work with the firefighters to try to return them to regular duty.
Brooke Carnevale, the safety department's human-resources director, said the union has resisted a policy amendment unless it allows for arbitration in the case of a dispute. Reall disagreed that the union has been an obstacle.
Cities such as Dayton and Cincinnati and the Columbus Division of Police handle light duty differently. Of 30 Columbus police officers on restricted duty, for example, only one has been there for more than a year.
The Police Division has its own human-resources department, and Chief Kimberley Jacobs said her division keeps tabs on officers to make sure they are progressing in their recovery.
Other fire departments across the state and the country have their physicians determine when a firefighter can return to regular duty. The firefighter can submit medical records from a personal doctor that the department's physician can consider. In Columbus, the firefighter's doctor determines when he or she can return to regular duty.
The Washington, D.C., Fire Department allows firefighters to remain on light duty for 90 days. After that, the firefighter must use sick leave and, when that is exhausted, go on unpaid leave.
@DispatchSully
Copyright 2013 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
