The Morning Call Archives

Copyright © 2010 The Morning Call

ID: 4771164
Publication Date: November 7, 2010
Day: Sunday
Page: A1
Edition: FIRST
Section: News
Type: Local
Dateline:
Column:
Length: long

Byline: Christopher Baxter OF THE MORNING CALL

Headline: Firefighter sick time raises eyebrows **In Easton, 46% of sick
days taken have been paired with other non-working days.

Nearly half of all sick days taken by Easton firefighters so far this year
have been combined with other paid time off, city records show, a pattern
that city officials say suggests the department may be misusing its leave.

A Morning Call analysis of city payroll records obtained through the state
Right-to-Know Law found that 46 percent of the total sick days taken by
firefighters through mid-October have been combined with holidays,
personal days or vacation days for extended time away from work.

The majority of the department has used those combinations without

having to provide a doctor's note.

While Easton has not uncovered any hard evidence of any firefighter
breaking the terms of the union contract, which allows for 21 sick days
per year to be used for personal illness or injury, City Administrator
Glenn Steckman called the results of the analysis "troubling."

"We've talked with four [firefighters] we definitely have a very grave

concern about, and we're putting everyone on notice that this is not going
to be tolerated going forward," he said. "It only takes two or three or four
people to misuse sick leave to create problems for everyone else."
He declined to comment on individual employees, but added: "It's wrong
and it has to stop."

Unlike in other city departments, sick days in the fire department almost
always result in overtime and cost taxpayers because of a contract
provision requiring a minimum 10 people per shift. The city's budget
estimates fire overtime will hit an all-time high of $530,000 by the end of
this year.

Comparatively, Bethlehem in 2010 budgeted $475,000 in overtime for a

department more than twice the size of Easton's.

Mayor Sal Panto Jr. has called Easton's overtime one of the largest drains
on the city budget. He said last week that any employee, fire or otherwise,
with a pattern of unusual sick time use has been put on notice.

"I don't believe that you need to use all your sick days before you can be
charged with abuse," Panto said. "You can have 100 days on the books,
but if you take a sick day when you're not sick and we find out, you're
going to get disciplined. You may even get terminated."

The problem of sick time and the resulting overtime is not unique to
Easton. Allentown and Bethlehem have struggled during the past decade
with the same problems. Across the country, cities once flush with cash
find they can no longer afford not to crack down on abuses.

In Easton, a tight budget year prompted officials to begin looking at sick

time in the fire department because of its impact on overtime costs.
Steckman and other officials during the past few months reviewed total
sick days used as well as days paired with other time off.

Steckman said the resulting patterns, similar to those found in The

Morning Call analysis, triggered a meeting between Chief John Bast and
several employees to discuss the use of sick time. During that meeting,
Steckman said, "some had admitted they probably weren't using it right."

For example, Steckman said, one firefighter took sick time when he had a
lot of family illness. But the contract allows sick time only when the
firefighter himself is ill. In another case, Steckman said, a firefighter used
sick time when he did not get cleared for vacation days.

The problems stem from an ingrained culture throughout City Hall and all
departments, including fire, that has allowed sick days to be used more
liberally than prescribed in city rules and union contracts, Easton officials
say. Changing that culture, Panto said, is like trying to turn the Titanic.
Bast said some firefighters had good reason for calling out sick, and
others were counseled on the sick time policy. When asked if sick time is
a problem in the department, as the city believes, he said, "As of today, I
don't expect to see a problem."

Terrance Hand, the head of Easton's chapter of the International

Association of Fire Fighters, denied that anyone admitted misusing sick
time. Hand questioned Steckman's account of meetings with firefighters
and called out City Hall for failing to prove any misuse.

"It's sad for them to create this story," Hand said.

Some firefighters get injured during their vacations, he said, which may
result in sick days following a period of other time off. Some firefighters
get sick right before a vacation, he said, which would explain sick days at
the beginning of a break from work. But those situations would not be
unique to firefighters.

Hand added that firefighters also may choose to use holidays, personal
days or vacation days rather than sick days for scheduled surgeries or
other extended medical procedures because sick days accrue year to year,
while the other time off does not.

In those cases, if they cannot get regular time off, they may use sick time
during a long break, he said.

When asked about The Morning Call analysis, he said "the numbers mean
absolutely nothing."

Easton firefighters work a 24-hour shift every third day. For example, a
firefighter may work 24 hours on Monday, be off Tuesday and
Wednesday, and work again Thursday. They receive 21 sick days per
year, but must use two sick days to call out an entire, 24-hour shift.

According to payroll records as of mid-October, Easton firefighters have

notched about 419 sick days, an average of nine per firefighter. The
department logged 516 in 2009, 382 in 2008 and 468 in 2007.

Though actual sick time abuse would require a firefighter being caught
away from home on a sick day, which city officials said has not happened,
patterns revealed in The Morning Call analysis reinforced concerns in
City Hall about how the time is being used.

For example, city records show William Williams III began a two-month
break this summer with a sick day on June 25, followed by two holidays,
another sick day, seven holidays, seven vacation days, a personal day,
another sick day, and a final holiday Aug. 24.

That would have given him 65 days away from the fire hall.

On four occasions this year, Leo Engelhardt combined sick days with
other forms of time off, records show. In February, he sandwiched a
personal day between two sick days, the analysis found. In June, he paired
a sick day with a holiday, and later that month took a sick day with two
vacation days.

In September, he again paired a sick day with a vacation day, the analysis
found.

Wayne Unangst, a nearly 36-year veteran, used similar combinations five

separate times this year, records show. James Sepulveda, a nearly 19-year
veteran, also combined sick time with other time off on five occasions so
far this year, the analysis found.

Sepulveda said in an e-mail statement that on two occasions a half-shift

separated his sick time and personal time. On another occasion, he said,
he called out sick, took half a vacation day and then worked.

He did not elaborate on why he took the sick days, and did not address
two other times he paired sick days with other time off.

"The fact that I have to even defend myself in this matter makes me sick,"
Sepulveda said.

Williams, Engelhardt and Unangst declined to comment.

Hand declined to comment on individual firefighters because he said no

one should have to justify their use of sick time. He said taxpayers have
no right to know how firefighters are using their sick time, even though
it's regulated by the contract and often causes overtime.

"It should be assumed that when they're using their sick time, they're
using it right," Hand said.

The Morning Call analysis also found that about 39 percent of sick days
were used for a single shift and were not paired with any time off. In these
instances, firefighters also would not have been required to provide a
doctor's note, leaving city officials with few ways to prove misuse.

Only 15 percent of sick days were taken on consecutive shifts and not
paired with other time off, the analysis found. Two or more consecutive
sick shifts require a doctor's note, though Steckman concedes that rule has
not always been enforced.

The firefighters contract allows the city to investigate possible excessive

use, improper use or abuse of sick leave. It requires firefighters out on
sick leave to remain at their homes unless visiting a doctor. Steckman said
he prefers not to have to call employees at home to check on them.

"It shouldn't come to that," he said. "We're all grown men."

But should the city not see changes in the patterns of sick time, Steckman
said, officials will consider actions against individual firefighters.

Questions from city officials about Easton's firefighter sick time came
about the time Allentown fired firefighter Richard G. Gawlik Jr. for
playing rounds of golf in August on days he called in sick. A Morning
Call analysis last year found Allentown's department to be using sick time
that drove up overtime. Nothing in their contract prevented them from
using it that way.

The Bethlehem fire department earlier this decade struggled with sick
days and the resulting overtime until the union and city officials agreed to
reduce the number of sick days allowed without a doctor's note. A change
in 2003 reduced the amount of sick days being used.

Longstanding animosity between the firefighters and Easton officials

intensified in July, when Panto called the department's growing overtime
"outrageous" and Steckman said the city was investigating possible sick
time abuse as one culprit.

Five Easton firefighters have made more than $90,000 in overtime since
2007, bolstering some annual paychecks by nearly 50 percent, The
Morning Call analysis shows. John Hartman, an 11-year veteran of the
fire department, earned $106,350 in overtime during that time, the most of
anyone.

Hand said the long hours and strenuous work cause more sick time among
firefighters than employees in other professions. In terms of overtime, he
commended those working the most and blamed the city for not hiring
enough people to prevent shifts from falling below the 10-firefighter
minimum.

The city would need 42 firefighters for a full complement of three shifts
of 14. In terms of overtime, a full complement is important because the
department is allowed to schedule up to four vacation days, personal days
or otherwise excused days per shift.
Add to that any sick days, injuries and military duty, and sometimes five
or six men can be on overtime on one shift. The department currently has
two shifts of 14 men and one shift of 13 men.

Panto in his 2011 budget proposal said he will hire an additional

firefighter for a full complement of 14 on all shifts. He said he anticipates
an overtime reduction of 37 percent to $335,000.

SO FAR IN 2010

* 419.5: Sick days used

* 192 (46 percent): Sick days paired with a holiday, vacation day or
personal day

* 28 (65 percent): Firefighters who have used that sick-day combination.

* $530,000: Estimated record-setting amount of fire overtime by the end

of the year.

ALL SIDES

A Morning Call analysis...

found that 46 percent of sick days taken by Easton firefighters through

mid-October were combined with a holiday, personal day or vacation day.

Easton officials say...

an internal review of payroll records revealed similar patterns of sick days

being paired with other forms of time. When confronted, a few employees
admitted to not using time correctly.

The fire union says...

no firefighter admitted to sick time misuse and the pattern in The Morning
Call analysis shows nothing. Firefighter jobs are strenuous, and there is no
hard evidence of any misuse.