NLV fire captain owes colleagues 800 hours

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004 | 11:10 a.m.

State Assemblyman John Oceguera, a North Las Vegas fire captain, owes almost 800 hours to fellow firefighters who worked shifts for him since 1999, according to city records obtained by the Sun.

Oceguera was within his rights under union rules and city policies to trade shifts to continue receiving full-time pay during the 2001 and 2003 legislative sessions, but it has left him with a huge debt to many of his colleagues. Oceguera owes his colleagues the equivalent of 33 24-hour shifts.

He is the heaviest user of the shift-trade policy, which allows firefighters to take paid time off if a colleague covers their shift, or part of their shift, for them. The firefighter taking the time off promises to pick up a colleague's shift in return.

The Las Vegas Democrat said even though he has done nothing wrong, because of public scrutiny over pay for public employees during legislative sessions, he will not trade shifts to attend future legislative sessions. Instead, Oceguera said he will probably take a leave of absence without pay during future sessions, although he would like to be able to work on the weekends.

"I'm completely within the policy, but that's the price of public service, I guess," Oceguera said.

Oceguera is one of several public employees who have come under scrutiny.

Three Assembly Democrats from Southern Nevada -- Wendell Williams, Kelvin Atkinson and Kathy McClain -- got into trouble in their government jobs for receiving government pay for those positions while serving in Carson City. Among the accusations was that they took paid sick days from their full-time government jobs while the Legislature was in session. Williams worked for Las Vegas, while Atkinson and McClain worked for Clark County.

Atkinson and McClain were fired for claiming time while they served in the Legislature and are appealing their firings. Williams, who was fired for alleged violations after being put on notice, is now receiving retirement pay.

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, also received full-time pay for his job as a Henderson deputy police chief during past legislative sessions. According to city records, from 1997 to 2003, the years for which records were available, Perkins typically logging two work days and two vacation days during the legislative sessions. The city has a four-day workweek.

City officials and Henderson's Police Chief Michael Mayberry have said Perkins worked the hours he was paid for. Both Perkins and Mayberry said Perkins worked on weekends during the session.

Oceguera said he will work off the hours owed, but exactly when is out of his control. Oceguera has to be asked to repay a shift for those whom he owes. Firefighters, including Oceguera, generally work 10 24-hour shifts a month.

"I try to do them whenever I can, but it's hard because I have to wait until they ask me," he said. "It's based on when they want it back, not when I want to give it back."

In addition, Oceguera said he can't work off as many as 400 of the 796 hours he's accumulated anytime soon because the firefighters who covered his shifts earlier now work the same shift he does or have positions he is not allowed to fill.

Eventually those hours will be worked off, after those firefighters move to different shifts or change positions again, he said.

"I will get it done eventually," Oceguera said. "But I'm sure those guys would rather have the promotion than wait for me to work for them."

According to city records compiled for the Sun, since the beginning of 1999 Oceguera's shift trades have resulted in others working 2,419 hours for him. Oceguera has worked 1,623 hours in return, so he has a balance of 796 hours owed for the past five years.

That does not reflect a total balance of hours for Oceguera, because automated city records are available only since 1999, city spokeswoman Brenda Johnson said.

Oceguera said he has been trading shifts with fellow workers since he came to the fire department in 1991. He said that before his first term in the Legislature in 2001 he traded shifts with others and generally ended each year about even.

For example in 1999 other firefighters worked 247 hours for Oceguera, and he worked 221 hours, leaving a balance of 26 hours, just over a single shift.

After Oceguera was elected to the Assembly he wasn't able to keep the two totals close to balanced.

In 2001, the year of Oceguera's first Legislature, others worked 1,132 hours for him and he worked 466 hours in return, leaving him 666 short that year. He ended last year, which had two special legislative sessions, with a deficit of 292 hours.

In 2002, an interim year, he chipped away at his deficit with a 161-hour net surplus and this year he is ahead 58 hours so far.

Oceguera said he consciously tried to limit the number of shift trades he had during the 2003 Legislature by using all of his annual leave, holiday pay, plus 10 days without pay. He said he wanted to avoid owing as many hours as he did two years earlier.

Fire Chief Jim Stubler said Oceguera is the most frequent user of shift trades. About 10 percent of the 112 firefighters use more than four or five shift trades a year.

"He's the very large exception with the amount of hours he's traded," Stubler said. "A lot of people use it sparingly because they hate to pay it back."

City firefighters have been able to trade shifts since at least 1973, when Stubler first started working for the city. But back then shift trades were a city policy and limited to three a year with a time limit on when the shifts had to be made up, Stubler said.

Over the years the policy became part of the union contract and the limits on the number of shifts one could trade were lifted.

Firefighter Greg Davis, president of the city firefighters' union -- the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 16076 -- said there hasn't been a limit on shift trades for at least 18 years.

Firefighters are responsible for tracking their own shift trades, making sure that, if they work a shift for someone, they are repaid later. The policy is part of the benefits package in the firefighters' union contract, and is not administered by the city.

The union does not track shift trades, leaving the policing to individual firefighters, Davis said.

"It's never been a problem," Davis said. "For someone to not pay someone back is not good for them because then people will not want to work for them again."

Fire Department Capt. Joe Basham agreed the policy has worked.

Basham has traded shifts with Oceguera in the past, and said he thinks Oceguera still owes him one 24-hour shift.

"He's probably owed me that time for over a year. But the reason he hasn't paid me back is I haven't asked him," Basham said.

And even though Basham and Oceguera now work the same shift, precluding a direct payback for now, Basham said he's not worried the hours he's owed will just go away. Instead, Basham said what will likely happen is that he will bring in a third firefighter to make the payback work. Then Oceguera would work a shift for the third firefighter, and that firefighter would work a shift for Basham.

"I guarantee it will work out," he said.

Generally, the policy helps the city and firefighters because it allows firefighters to get days off without leaving the department short-staffed, the chief and Davis said.

But Stubler has had to limit some firefighters' use of shift trades at times, when the chief felt the trades interfered with training.

For example, during the summer Stubler decided that one firefighter, whom he would not identify, could not trade any more shifts until that firefighter caught up with missed training.

Stubler said training hasn't been a problem with Oceguera because he has "made an effort to keep his training current."

Stubler said he would like to see the shift-trade policy changed, but he wouldn't say exactly how because the city and union are in negotiations for a new contract. The current contract with the firefighters' union expires June 30.

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