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On Feb. 3, 21 out of 23 Medford firefighters called out sick. The mayor smells a rat.
According to Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, the "orchestrated event" cost the city $92,000 in overtime and sick leave costs.
Medford has launched an investigation into the fire department’s use of sick time after 21 of 23 firefighters called in sick for a shift earlier this month — one chapter of a turbulent saga that’s pitted the city’s mayor against the local fire union.
In a news release last week, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn explained that a majority of scheduled firefighters called out for a portion of their 24-hour shift during the first few days of February, an “orchestrated event” that allegedly cost the city more than $92,000.
Those 24-hour shifts are broken down into day and night tours; according to the city, most of the firefighters who were out sick for their day tour still reported for duty at night. On Feb. 3 alone, all but two firefighters took sick time.
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“The excess sick leave usage and resulting overtime costs has a cascading effect throughout the City’s operating budget, and results in the diversion of funds away from critical investments in our schools, roads, and other social services,” Lungo-Koehn said in a statement last week.
The city’s news release also noted “additional concerns about the manner in which some members of the fire department have utilized their sick time in the past that has added to overtime costs to the City.”
The backstory
It was unclear why so many firefighters called in sick at the same time.
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“I can’t explain it,” Medford Firefighters Local 1032 President Eddie Buckley told reporters Tuesday, according to WBZ. “They used their contractual right to use their sick day.”
Notably, the relationship between Lungo-Koehn’s administration and Medford Firefighters Local 1032 turned particularly sour during protracted contract talks that lasted into the fall.
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Fire Chief John Freedman announced his retirement days after the sick time incident this month, and Lungo-Koehn further angered firefighters by filing a request to exempt his replacement from state Civil Service law — a proposal that was ultimately tabled during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. While the mayor argued that stepping away from Civil Service would open up a broader applicant pool and free Medford from an “outdated and cumbersome” procedure, the fire union argued that the move would turn the chief into a “political pawn.”
In a statement Tuesday, the union pushed back on Lungo-Koehn’s accusations of sick time abuse as “nothing more than rumors and gossip,” also accusing the mayor of dodging the union’s attempts to address the allegations with her directly.
“The Mayor has a well-documented history of animosity and underhanded attacks upon organized labor within Medford, and her repeated attempts to undermine, and silence workers is nothing new,” the union said. “Well, the buck stops here. Local 1032 is actively taking all legal action available to us to protect not just our members, but everyone in Medford from Mayor Lungo-Koehn.”
‘They earned the right to have sick time’
The sick time incident was the subject of fervent debate at a City Council meeting Tuesday, where the audience was packed with supporters of the fire union.
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“The men and women that are our firefighters, they earned the right to have sick time,” argued Councilor George A. Scarpelli, whose remarks drew raucous cheers from the crowd.
“All they did was use the days that they’re supposed to take if they need it,” Scarpelli added, suggesting that the firefighters returned for the latter half of their shift due to lack of substitute coverage.
However, that explanation didn’t seem to resonate with some of his colleagues.
“I have tried to ask as many firefighters about this as possible,” said Councilor Matt Leming. “I have been told that they actually were sick. And I’ll be perfectly honest, 21 out of 23 people call in in a day and then they come in later — I don’t believe it.”
Lungo-Koehn was similarly left scratching her head as she addressed her strained relationship with the fire union Tuesday.
“I’m not taking away from what they do every day; I respect that. I respect the job they do every day,” she said. “What I don’t respect is the fact that we have a contract, it is settled, and there was an orchestrated event. And I don’t know what lesson they were trying to teach me. I don’t know what that was.”
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