Grievance Dropped after FL Firefighter's Promotion
By John Chambliss
Source The Ledger, Lakeland, Fla.
LAKELAND — The union representing Polk County firefighters has dropped a grievance after the county agreed to promote a fire captain to battalion chief.
Captain Jay Schwartz can now become a battalion chief but must complete his educational requirements within a year, according to an agreement reached earlier this month.
The union filed a grievance in December, arguing that Schwartz, who is also the former union president of Polk County IAFF Local 3531, was denied the job because of his age, union activity, and involvement in two public incidents that portrayed the county in a negative light.
Schwartz said Monday county officials settled because they realized they would lose the arbitration hearing if it reached that level.
"They would have spent a lot of money for an arbitrator," Schwartz said.
In 2018, the county promoted the top three scorers to battalion chief. But Schwartz, who was fourth with a score of 75 percent, was not promoted. That position was not filled until now with Schwartz's recent promotion.
Deputy County Manager Joe Halman said last year wasn't the right time to promote Schwartz to the position.
"He was qualified then and he's qualified now," Halman said. "It wasn't that he would never be promoted."
Schwartz said the reason he wasn't promoted goes deeper than that.
He said Halman has been preoccupied with retribution against him ever since Schwartz helped fight a house fire while he was off duty a year ago. Initially administrators criticized Schwartz, but media reports panned that criticism. In the grievance, union officials wrote that Schwartz was passed over because of a less than positive depiction following the off-duty fire response.
The grievance also mentions a case Schwartz, now a member of the union's health and safety committee, filed in 2018 against the county for violating a contractual pay agreement.
In that case, the firefighters union filed a grievance over a lack of raises for first-year firefighters, saying county administrators failed to follow a contract that states new firefighters should have received a 3.5 percent increase in pay soon after the contract was ratified. Rather than fight the grievance, the county approved immediate raises for first-year firefighters.
Halman has denied any allegations that he retaliated against Schwartz.
In the grievance, Schwartz, 53, was described as the oldest candidate who passed a promotional process, causing union officials to have concerns that his age could be a factor with the job.
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