5683344 Resolution 21-218, Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department Presidential Inauguration Pay Rectification Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2015

A RESOLUTION

 

21-218 

 

IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

 

September 22, 2015

 

 

To declare the existence of an emergency with the respect to the need amend An Act To amend the Act entitled “An Act to classify the officers and members of the Fire Department of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes”, approved June 20, 1906, and for other purposes, to permit members of the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department that worked overtime hours during the 2013 Presidential Inauguration to be paid for work performed.

 

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department Presidential Inauguration Pay Rectification Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2015”.

 

            Sec. 2. (a) On June 5, 2012, the Council adopted the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Support Act of 2012, effective September 20, 2012 (D.C. Law 19-168; 59 DCR 8025).  Section 3023 of that legislation provided an exemption from the allowable overtime hours that Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (“Department”) members were permitted to work during the 2013 Presidential Inauguration.  Specifically, the legislation exempted pay periods 1 and 2 from the overtime restrictions set forth at D.C. Official Code § 5-405.

            (b)  This exemption from overtime hours was subsequently amended, following the recommendation of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, as it was believed that the incorrect pay periods were identified in D.C. Law 19-168.  Thus, on March 1, 2013 the Council adopted emergency legislation in order to remedy the perceived error.  The Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services Inaugural Overtime Clarification Emergency Act of 2013, effective March 1, 2013 (D.C. Act 20-20; 60 DCR 3976), changed the applicable pay periods for the exemption from pay periods 1 and 2 to pay periods 2 and 3.

            (c)  Complicating this legislative history further, the Department issued a Special Order on January 14, 2013—midway through the period for which the exemption was to apply—implementing the “waiver of the Overtime Implementation Act.”

            (d)  It is now apparent that the pay periods provided in the law for the exemption, both as originally put forth and as amended, were incorrect. 

            (e)  Regardless of the error in applicable pay periods, the Department, without statutory authorization and contrary to its own Special Order, ordered 6 members of the Department to work beyond the statutory cap for overtime.  These 6 individuals, despite having served during the 2013 Presidential Inauguration, have not yet been paid for the hours worked in excess of the cap.  Having exceeded the hour cap also triggers compensation at time-and-a-half. 

            (f)  After 2½ years, it is important for the District to finally resolve this issue and for the Office of Pay and Retirement Services to pay these 6 individuals for work performed.  The accompanying emergency removes any statutory barrier that may be perceived as preventing payment to these individuals.

 

Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department Presidential Inauguration Pay Rectification Emergency Amendment Act of 2015 be adopted after a single reading.

 

 Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.