Excerpts from FoxIllinois.com:
The City of Springfield is facing a new lawsuit. This one filed by the Springfield Firefighters’ Pension Board. The board is looking for a Sangamon County judge to determine whether firefighters should be allowed to add possibly thousands of dollars to their pensions for working holidays.
Anyone who works a holiday as a firefighter gets paid double time. In 1998 the Department of Insurance said firefighters could add holiday pay to their pensions. But just a few months ago the opinion reversed, saying it violated Illinois pension code.
The board voted to stop holiday pay from applying to new firefighters’ pensions as of November.
Pension board attorney Don Craven said the pension board was likely going to face a lawsuit. The firefighter’s union could sue if the board eliminated the holiday pay pension altogether because pension benefits cannot be diminished for an employee. The city said it would sue if no action was taken because of the DOI opinion.
“The city’s going to sue us if we don’t change it; the firefighters would probably sue us if we do change it. So we’re going to ask the court what to do,” said Craven.
Some city leaders have said holiday pay should not be included in pensions because the overtime pay does not apply to everyone. Budget Director Bill McCarty has said holiday pay being added to pensions ends up costing the city tens of thousands of dollars a year.
