D.C. Fire And E.M.S. Employees Rake In $1 Million In Overtime

While many struggle to find jobs in this economy, others enjoy superfluous benefits and unwarranted rewards.  Chances are if you’re a government employee, the odds are in your favor to benefit from some sort of needless, unnecessary perk along the way.  Study after study has shown that public employees are vastly overpaid and earn a significantly larger salary than their counterparts in the private sector.  Even with this reality, it’s still surprising to learn about the most atrocious examples of government employees “benefits.”

The Washington Examiner recently reported that “25 D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department employees combined to earn more than $1 million in overtime pay during the city’s most recent fiscal year, agency statistics show.  According to records provided to the D.C. Council, the 25 workers collected $1,021,242.07 in overtime. That compensation was in addition to more than $1.6 million in salary.” [emphasis added]

How on earth could such a huge expense that was totally avoidable and wholly unnecessary occur?  The Washington Examiner reported that Fire Chief Kenneth Ellerbe “blamed the overtime, which was especially prolific among the department’s mechanics, on poorly scheduled leaves of absence…But he said his agency was instituting reforms to curb the need for overtime.”  Ellerbe further explained the situation with honesty even if the facts he revealed were disconcerting.  Chief Ellerbe offered, “We weren’t paying as much attention to it as we are now…  They have taken some serious measures to reduce overtime.”

It’s worth asking the question, why weren’t they “paying attention?”  That’s a very good question, especially considering the fact that their inattention has now cost DC taxpayers more than $1 million.  Although the question may be a good one, the answer to it is certainly an unpleasant one for taxpayers to swallow. One of the reasons the management wasn’t paying attention is because they had no incentive to do so.  It wasn’t their money or their company’s money that was being put on the line to cover this needless, perfectly avoidable spending.  This scenario demonstrates a stark distinction between the very cores of the private and public sectors.

The article ends by noting that “And even though the agency doled out millions in payments in 2012, the department stayed within its total budget of $195 million because it underspent in other areas.” As if this is supposed to be a sufficient consolation prize.  The fact they had money left over in their budget demonstrates the budget was far too generous and bloated to begin with.  If any doubt remains about the indefensible nature of these payments, take a look at what the union had to say.  Even the union representative admitted that they were “extremely excessive.”