[StBernard] Landrieu Announces FEMA will Reimburse Jefferson for $542, 000 in Firefighter Overtime

[Westley Annis]

Landrieu Announces FEMA will Reimburse Jefferson for 

$542,000 in Firefighter Overtime
In meeting set up by Landrieu today, FEMA agreed to reimburse parish for
post-Katrina overtime expenses.

 

WASHINGTON - United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today announced
that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) agreed to repay
Jefferson Parish fire departments for about $542,000 in overtime pay
accumulated during the first fourteen days after Hurricane Katrina. 

"Our firefighters stepped up and worked 24 hours a day in response to
Hurricane Katrina and Rita," Sen. Landrieu said. "But FEMA's policy limited
the amount of overtime reimbursement to eight hours per day, regardless of
the time our firefighter's actually worked. In the wake of Katrina and Rita,
our first responders had no choice but to keep working. Today, we were able
to work through a significant layer of bureaucracy for Jefferson. I commend
our firefighters from Jefferson for their heroic response to the hurricanes,
and I also thank David Paulison for working with our local first responders
and agreeing to reimburse the parish."  

"It is great news that FEMA and our local government came to an
understanding in how to respond to large disasters during that initial
response period when the state and federal government have not had a chance
to bring in additional resources," said Jefferson Parish Homeland Security
Chief Deano Bonano, who attended today's meeting. "What it means for our
citizens is that local fire departments will be reimbursed for large
overtime costs. And in future events, we have some level of comfort that we
will get reimbursed if we bring our manpower up to full staffing. 

"We have been trying for over a year now to get this resolved. It wasn't
until Senator Landrieu organized this meeting that we were able to get
FEMA's full attention and to ultimately reach a solution to the problem."

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, firefighters must be paid for every hour
they are on duty. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Parish firefighters
were working without breaks. Because of FEMA's policy, it only reimbursed
Jefferson Parish for half of the accrued overtime pay because the agency
assumed that firefighters were sleeping eight hours a day. As a result, the
parish had to fill the gap with funds that could otherwise have been applied
to other elements of the recovery. The parish will now instead be reimbursed
following a commitment made today by FEMA Administrator David Paulison in a
meeting facilitated by Sen. Landrieu's office. Attendees at the meeting
included officials representing all 18 parish fire departments, Parish
Councilmen Chris Roberts and Elton Lagasse, and Chief Bonano, as well as
Sen. Landrieu's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Disaster Recovery
Subcommittee staff.

While today's agreement only covers Jefferson Parish, Sen. Landrieu
continues to press FEMA to work with other Louisiana fire departments as
they face the challenges associated with recovery. She is also working with
the agency to develop new reimbursement guidelines for future catastrophic
disasters.  

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