Houma firefighters have filed a lawsuit against Terrebonne Parish after their wages were cut by unexpected Social Security deductions.
According to the suit, which was filed July 3 in the 32nd Judicial District Court, the parish hired the firefighters for an agreed-upon wage and certain benefits such as retirement. Firefighters were hired with the condition that they contribute to the Firefighters' Retirement System, which would be their only retirement system.
Houma Fire Department employees were led to believe they were exempt from paying Social Security coverage, according to complaint.
However, on June 7, 2018, the parish told the Fire Department that Social Security taxes would start being withheld from its paychecks beginning on July 1, 2018. The cut in pay did not result from any change of law, the lawsuit argues.
"This sudden change, which constituted a breach of employment contract between petitioners and defendant, came as a result of an Internal Revenue System Audit of the defendant, which identified the defendant's negligent and reckless failure to comply with its own agreement with the State of Louisiana to include the firefighters as part of its coverage group and to provide the petitioners with Social Security coverage," the lawsuit reads.
The Social Security deduction has resulted in a 6.2-percent pay cut for firefighters, some of whom make only $9.44 per hour, the plaintiffs claim.
"Since it began making the deductions after negligently misrepresenting the petitioner's status as excluded from Social Security, the defendant has not adjusted any of the petitioner's wages," the lawsuit reads.
New Orleans attorney Laura Rodrigue, who represents the Houma Firefighters Association, along with New Orleans lawyer Blake J. Arcuri, said firefighters are suffering a major pay decrease thanks to the parish's own negligence.
"Suddenly the parish government got audited and were told by the IRS that they should have pulled these taxes out for years but haven't," Rodrigue said during an interview Wednesday. "The firefighters took a pretty hard hit and didn't have any say-so or any way to remedy it. The Police Department was not affected by this. The parish didn't manage it right for some reason, so the firefighters are the only ones who got hit with this pay cut. Firefighters are already not making that much money, so that pay cut hits them quite hard."
The plaintiffs are accusing the parish of negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The department is asking for wages that were "wrongfully deprived between July 5, 2018, to present," back pay, adjustments to present and future wages, pension contributions and Social Security contributions, court costs and damages.
Parish President Gordy Dove said he had been willing to negotiate with firefighters without resorting to the courts.
"The IRS came back and said the Fire Department has to start paying Social Security," Dove said today. "I'm not the federal government. I can't tell the federal government not to charge them Social Security. They told me about this a year ago then all of a sudden file a lawsuit. It's the most ridiculous lawsuit I've seen. We're supposed to sit down together and work these things out. I know they're on limited salaries. I'm willing to work with them, but nobody came to us to work it out. All they had to do was come to me. This lawsuit is a waste of money."
The Houma Fire Department has about 60 employees and averages around 1,900 service calls per year.
The case has been allotted to District Court Judge David Arceneaux.
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