WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | State high court rules in favor of Louisville firefighters in overtime pay dispute

State high court rules in favor of Louisville firefighters in overtime pay dispute

By Chris McGill - bio | email  
Posted by Charles Gazaway - email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - A ruling by the Kentucky Supreme Court means Louisville Metro Government has to pay local firefighters millions of dollars in overtime pay. Firefighters claimed the government miscalculated their pay for five years. But as WAVE 3's Chris McGill reports, there's another related issue that's a long way from being resolved.

The Kentucky Supreme Court agreed with a lower court's ruling that overtime pay for Louisville firefighters was miscalculated for five years. The court says Metro Government has to make it right to the tune of millions of dollars.

Local firefighters work shifts of 24 hours on duty and 48 hours off, averaging 56 hours a week. They say the city should pay them overtime after the initial 40 hours worked. The Supreme Court agreed.

Mayor Jerry Abramson says the city plans to cooperate and pay the overtime money due after that final number is decided on...which is expected to be in the millions.

"This case that was decided, is decided, for I think a four or five year period. We think that's as far back as you can go on this issue and we're prepared to work out an arrangement on the payment once we understand who receives the payments and how much," said Mayor Jerry Abramson.
    
However, there is a separate lawsuit still in court relating to how overtime is calculated. That could result in the firefighters seeking up to 15 years in back pay. It is something that Abramson is adamant about fighting.

"The one that we're in the Court of Appeals on where they're asking us to go back 15 to 20 years. We will be aggressive in our position that the law does not allow them to go back that far," Abramson said.

If the court rules in favor of the firefighters a second time and agrees that the overtime was not calculated properly, that could mean a settlement estimated by the mayor at $50-million to $60-million which would be quite a bill for Louisville taxpayers.

Craig Willman with the Louisville Professional Firefighters Union says it could mean even more if the city doesn't concede and they continue to fight this overtime battle...

"We don't know exactly what the figures are. Those numbers could be inflated, or they may not be. Again, we're willing to sit down and discuss what would be a fair settlement," said Willman.
    
Either way, the city's taxpayers will eventually foot the bill. The final outcome could be months, if not years, away. After all, it has taken over 8 years to get this far in the case.