Two California firefighter union leaders are seeking to fatten their public pensions because, they claim, for years they never took a day off work.
The two firefighters were employed by the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire but, under the terms of the labor contract, they were released from normal duties to work full-time at taxpayer expense on union business.
They said their union duties were so all-consuming that they never took vacation or holidays for eight to 10 years. They then collected extra pay for the unused leave time and their lawyers are now asking CalPERS to let them count some of that extra income toward the calculation of their pensions.
Siding with attorneys for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, an administrative law judge this year rejected for the second time the union leaders’ pension-spiking attempts.
On Tuesday, the labor-dominated CalPERS board will decide whether to undermine the work of the pension system’s lawyers by reversing the judge’s proposed ruling.
Board members have the authority to do so, although they rarely exercise it. But twice already in this case the board has refused to accept the administrative law judge’s findings.
The 4-year-old case is a test of whether CalPERS board members will put political patronage, and perhaps their own self-interest, ahead of the integrity of the pension system.
To serve on the CalPERS board, five of the 13 members, like the two firefighters, are public employees released from their regular jobs to perform work elsewhere.
At issue are the pensions of Robert Wolf and Kenneth Hale. (Wolf died last year but the outcome of the case will affect the beneficiaries of his pension.)
Wolf served from 2002-12 as president of Local 2881, which represents more than 6,000 current and retired Cal Fire employees. Hale served as state rank-and-file representative from 2006-13.
Under the terms of the local’s labor agreement with the state, the persons holding those two union positions are paid full salaries and benefits by the government but given release from their regular duties to work on union business.
During that time, their salaries and benefits are to be based on the jobs they held at Cal Fire. Wolf and Hale were both captains when they were released from their regular jobs.
Later, while working on union business, they each received promotions to battalion chiefs. Although neither actually worked as a battalion chief, they received the pay and benefits of the job.
And, while they both worked on union business in a Sacramento office, they received state pay for extra hours as if they were pulling the three 24-hour shifts each week that most firefighters endure.
Wolf’s job duties in Sacramento while on release for 10 years included management of finances, personnel, lobbying and answering union member questions.
Hale’s duties for his eight years included labor negotiations with the state, assisting union members facing discipline and coordinating accident investigation teams.
They claimed they never had time to take a day off. In one case, Hale did not use vacation time when he and his wife were in Kauai for three days after a work seminar because, he testified, he was fielding calls the entire time.
Each year, Wolf and Hale racked up unused vacation and holiday leave and then received cash payments for the time. At the end of 2010, for example, Wolf and Hale each received additional payment for 225 hours of unused vacation plus 13 unused holidays, according to CalPERS.
Which brings us to the fight over their retirement pay. To understand the case, keep in mind that public employee pensions are calculated based in part on years on the job and salary. At issue is what should be counted as salary for the calculations.
The union leaders claim they should be able to count the pay for unused holiday and vacation pay, although, for this case, they are only pursuing application of the extra holiday pay to their pension calculation.
That could boost their pensions by roughly another $2,000-$3,000 a year on top of the current $95,800 for Wolf’s beneficiaries and $99,700 for Hale. But the outcome of the case could have much larger implications if later applied to their pay for unused vacation and to the pensions of their successors.
During the years Wolf and Hale were on work release, no other Cal Fire employees were able to cash out unused leave. State pension law requires treating employees in the same “group or class of employment” the same.
Wolf and Hale are essentially arguing that they were special and that they should be treated differently. Even though they enjoy the other benefits of the Cal Fire contract, while working desk jobs rather than on the fire lines, they claim that, for pension purposes, they were in a class of their own.
That’s the issue CalPERS board members must decide on Tuesday.
