A Los Angeles firefighter received $300,000 in overtime pay in one year by working more hours than actually exist in a single year.

Donn Thompson augmented his $92,000 salary by more than a quarter of a million dollars in 2017, Reason magazine reported, citing data from Transparent California, a project of the Nevada Policy Research Institute.

It wasn’t a one-off payout, as Thompson earned over $1 million in overtime pay over the last four years.

But the math behind the pay doesn’t add up. It would have required the firefighter to work 9,280 hours in a year, despite there being 8,760 hours in a single year.


The magazine crunched the numbers and claimed that the firefighter earned his base salary of $92,000 by working 2,912 hours at an hourly rate of $31.60. For overtime hourly rate, Thompson would earn $47.40, meaning that in order to receive $300,000 in overtime pay for the whole year, he would have had to work 6,370 hours – bringing the total hours worked to 9,280.

Robert Fellner, director of the institute, said the firefighter’s ability to work that many hours “boggles the mind” and said that Thompson was likely taking advantage of generous contract provisions that boost overtime pay above the typical rate.

Thompson is reportedly known for mastering the way to max out overtime pay. Between 1993 and 1995 he earned nearly $220,000 in overtime, a 1996 Los Angeles Times article reported. Thompson said at the time that most overtime hours are linked to covering for other workers at the stations and not to “fires or other emergencies.”

In 2008, Thompson earned nearly $180,000 in overtime pay, the Los Angeles Daily News reported, noting that the L.A. fire department's overtime budget skyrocketed by over 60 percent in a decade.

Thompson justified his pay a few years ago, saying he "basically lived at the station” and worked hard to earn it.

"The first thing [people] think of is firefighters sitting around at the station, but they're not just handing out free money over here," Thompson told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "I'm working hard."

Link

And nobody noticed?
And nobody's headed for jail?
I suspect he's not the only one doing stuff like this.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
And nobody's headed for jail?

I missed the allegation of any fraud. If anyone should go to jail, it’s whoever negotiated the collective bargaining agreement - for stupidity.

-Rob

quote:

Thompson justified his pay a few years ago, saying he "basically lived at the station”....

Obviously not married.

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
And nobody's headed for jail?

I missed the allegation of any fraud. If anyone should go to jail, it’s whoever negotiated the collective bargaining agreement - for stupidity.

-Rob

Missed that he worked more hours than there are in a year?

"But the math behind the pay doesn’t add up. It would have required the firefighter to work 9,280 hours in a year, despite there being 8,760 hours in a single year."

quote:

I missed the allegation of any fraud. If anyone should go to jail, it’s whoever negotiated the collective bargaining agreement - for stupidity.

Fraud? It's California.

The answer won't be to reduce spending by cutting down on this BS.

The answer will be higher taxes because running a fire department is expensive and we need more money.

Hey...if it's in the CBA, then good for him!! Seems the city needs to send someone to the negotiating table that actually knows what the hell they're doing. I wish we could get the negotiating team the firefighters had for our contract negotiations!!!

Read your contract.
KNOW your contract.

Nailed it!
I would like to know how many hours are required to work in a year for the $92,000 base salary.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
The answer won't be to reduce spending by cutting down on this BS.

The answer will be higher taxes because running a fire department is expensive and we need more money.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
And nobody's headed for jail?

I missed the allegation of any fraud. If anyone should go to jail, it’s whoever negotiated the collective bargaining agreement - for stupidity.

-Rob

Missed that he worked more hours than there are in a year?

"But the math behind the pay doesn’t add up. It would have required the firefighter to work 9,280 hours in a year, despite there being 8,760 hours in a single year."

"Robert Fellner, director of the institute, said the firefighter’s ability to work that many hours “boggles the mind” and said that Thompson was likely taking advantage of generous contract provisions that boost overtime pay above the typical rate."

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
Hey...if it's in the CBA, then good for him!! Seems the city needs to send someone to the negotiating table that actually knows what the hell they're doing. I wish we could get the negotiating team the firefighters had for our contract negotiations!!!

Read your contract.
KNOW your contract.

Because you can doesn’t always mean you should.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

Thompson justified his pay a few years ago, saying he "basically lived at the station”....

Obviously not married.

Or have a girlfriend, or any other kind of life. I hate working 48s, which is all we're allowed to work before a mandatory 24 off. I couldn't even imagine staying there full time.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

Thompson justified his pay a few years ago, saying he "basically lived at the station”....

Obviously not married.

Nah, he was sick of the constant nagging at home.

One problem is when public service unions reps negotiate with public service employees who work for the government, “of the public service employees, by the public service employees, for the public service employees.”

There was a scandal in San Diego years ago when it was publicized how fire department managers were passing around the top jobs of allow everyone to retire at max pay, over $100k per year retirement.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
Hey...if it's in the CBA, then good for him!! Seems the city needs to send someone to the negotiating table that actually knows what the hell they're doing. I wish we could get the negotiating team the firefighters had for our contract negotiations!!!

Read your contract.
KNOW your contract.

Because you can doesn’t always mean you should.

Since I'm now in an industry that thrives on CBA's, my opinion has changed DRASTICALLY over should, may, shall, must, etc. One's quality of life is only as good as the provisions in his CBA. What if the tables were turned and the city was screwing the firefighters just because their negotiator was more sage at the bargaining table? Goes both ways, my friend, and frankly I'm sick and tired of management getting theirs. "Management" gets theirs every freaking day where I work, so it's a breath of fresh air to see the tables turned for once.

Right? Wrong? Who the hell am I to judge, but I'll side with the worker every damn time. Plain and simple...

what a workaholic.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
And nobody's headed for jail?

I missed the allegation of any fraud. If anyone should go to jail, it’s whoever negotiated the collective bargaining agreement - for stupidity.

-Rob

Missed that he worked more hours than there are in a year?

"But the math behind the pay doesn’t add up. It would have required the firefighter to work 9,280 hours in a year, despite there being 8,760 hours in a single year."

The math is not always as straightforward as the article reports.
As an example, if I work 7 days in a week anything over 36 hours is time and a half but The seventh day will be double time. If you divide up the money I get paid by the straight rate and overtime rate you get more hours then I worked. Some holidays I can end up getting paid holiday pay on top of double time on top of straight time due to a quirk in the way the rules were written (you look for those days)

Wow.

I'd be happy with simple time and a half for anything over 40 in a week, time and a half for forced days outside your regular schedule, and double time on holidays. And shift differential would be nice too.

And this guy is making $300k.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
And nobody's headed for jail?

I missed the allegation of any fraud. If anyone should go to jail, it’s whoever negotiated the collective bargaining agreement - for stupidity.

-Rob

Missed that he worked more hours than there are in a year?

"But the math behind the pay doesn’t add up. It would have required the firefighter to work 9,280 hours in a year, despite there being 8,760 hours in a single year."

The math is not always as straightforward as the article reports.
As an example, if I work 7 days in a week anything over 36 hours is time and a half but The seventh day will be double time. If you divide up the money I get paid by the straight rate and overtime rate you get more hours then I worked. Some holidays I can end up getting paid holiday pay on top of double time on top of straight time due to a quirk in the way the rules were written (you look for those days)

Exactly. It’s important to read the whole article. In this case, it also helps if one is familiar at all with public sector CBAs. The kind of provisions that make this possible are not uncommon. This guy just takes advantage better than many.

-Rob