Chicago Fire Department Responds To Preliminary Exempt Overtime Report

The Chicago Fire Department (CFD) responded to a preliminary report issued today by the Office of the Inspector General, which examined exempt employee overtime expenditures for the years 2008, 2009, and the first quarter of 2010, taking action on a number of the findings, while disputing other key report assertions.

The CFD assisted the Inspector General's auditors during their audit and provided responses to the findings as part of the report.  

"We are following the policies of the City of Chicago in letter and spirit while fulfilling our primary responsibility of ensuring firefighter, paramedic, and public safety," said Robert S. Hoff, Fire Commissioner.

Some of the findings that the CFD disputes include:

• Statements regarding the taking of unpaid furlough days – the CFD has followed the protocol set forth for all City agencies. At no time was overtime given to negate the impact of furlough days.  

• Statements regarding the retirement of employees without taking all furlough days - The CFD has no control over when an employee decides to retire or the ability to take additional furlough days from employees once they retire.

• Statements regarding the use of a 1.5 overtime rate for CFD exempts – the CFD asserts that DDCs do not receive 1.5 overtime rate, as a matter of practice, the instances stated in the report were isolated clerical errors that the CFD has corrected. There were twelve (12) instances where individuals were paid an incorrect rate, at the rank of DDC, out of 350 entries for overtime for an error rate of under four (4) percent. Overall, the CFD has an error rate of under one percent. (See Deputy District Chief (DDC) Responsibilities at the bottom of the page) 

• Statements regarding the increase in DDC overtime from 2008 to 2009 – the CFD asserts that in 2009 the number of DDC's on medical due to injury or illness was 10 out of 26 over the course of the year, with as many as nine (9) DDC's out at one time. This shortage resulted in nearly tripling the total days in medical for DDCs. This coupled with the 2009 Lieutenants (LT) oral exam accounted for the increase in overtime from 2008 to 2009.  In addition, there appear to be discrepancies in the overtime figures used in the report which the CFD is currently reviewing.  

• Statements regarding the use of DDCs on the 2009 LT exam – the CFD asserts that with 1,864 members taking the exam, in order to have a larger more diverse group of assessors who are directly involved with day to day operations on the street the DDCs were used to conduct oral examinations.

The CFD is taking steps to implement some of the report's recommendations including:

• Conducted a global audit of all Deputy District Chief (DDC) overtime.  The city has already started recouping monies paid at an incorrect rate due to clerical errors.

• Prior to the report being issued, the CFD started researching options to eliminate overtime in the Internal Affairs Division, including consolidation.
• Continuing to generate overtime reports for budgetary tracking to determine if there was an error in the payroll process, in addition the CFD started and will continue to audit all overtime reports as part of the CFD's payroll workflow.

•  Working with the City's Law Department to assess the affect of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) on exempt rank overtime.  The CFD has begun the process of crafting a written policy because exempt rank  DDCs work on the platoon schedule which is more than forty (40) hours a week.

Finally, in order to reduce DDC overtime District Chiefs (DC) have been acting down in rank to ensure staffing at the DDC rank remains at safe levels. This is in addition to recent promotions to fill vacancies in the DDC ranks. Exempt rank DDCs on mandatory furlough days are always covered by higher ranking employees acting down.

Deputy District Chief (DDC) Responsibilities:

• Under the direction of the District Chief, works a platoon shift and performs the administrative duties delegated with regard to departmental regulations, the orders of the Fire Commissioner and the policies of the Fire Department
• Responds to fires within the respective Fire District as directed by the Office of Emergency Management and Communications
• Assumes control of firefighting operations and personnel under his command
• Conducts regular inspections of personnel and units within an assigned Fire District
• Drills and trains such units as required
• Assumes command in the absence of the District Chief
• Maintains proper manpower levels and ensures the appropriate filing of reports
• Enforces departmental regulations and municipal ordinances
• Ensures the enforcement of labor contract policies and procedures
• At emergency incidents, ensures safety by maintaining an operational span of control of firefighters, paramedics and Battalion Chiefs, as required by the National Incident Command System.