LAist

“LA faces $9.5M payout for unpaid firefighter OT — on top of $1.2 billion already spent”

“The city of Los Angeles has reached a deal with firefighters and paramedics to pay up to $9.5 million to settle a legal dispute about unpaid overtime from 2020 to 2024.

That money comes on top of $1.2 billion in overtime already paid out to fire department employees over those same four years, according to an LAist analysis of city payroll data. The settlement was approved by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass on March 3 and now goes to a U.S. District Court judge for final approval, scheduled for next month.

The lawsuit, and the city’s decision to settle it at a time of dire warnings about the state of city finances, underscores ongoing tension over the size of a department serving more than 4 million people who live and work in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) — about 9% of the city workforce in 2024 — accounted for about 38% of all overtime paid out to city workers last year.

About 8% of firefighters received as much in overtime pay as regular pay in 2024, according to LAist's city payroll data analysis.”

Lawsuit's scope

Ultimately, about one third of LAFD personnel — more than 1,100 workers — signed on to the lawsuit filed by a veteran firefighter against the city in 2023.

Daniel Gonzalez, the lead plaintiff, said he grew up in a family of firefighters and has served 22 years at the LAFD as a firefighter and paramedic in some of the city’s busiest fire stations.

He now works as a paramedic at Fire Station 57 in Venice, where Gonzalez told LAist he runs between 10 and 15 advance-level emergency calls per shift, including responding to heart attacks, car accidents and other traumatic events….

Gonzalez and his lawyers told LAist they hope the settlement leads the LAFD to change their policy and pay employees for all the work they do moving forward.

“When a firefighter or paramedic is on duty,” Gonzalez said, “we can be in a situation where we're risking our lives. And if we're doing that for the citizens of L.A., we should be getting paid properly.”

Oshea Orchid, his attorney, told LAist the city could be looking at another lawsuit if policies don’t change.