Friday, March 25, 2005 | 8:45 a.m.
Assemblyman John Oceguera, a North Las Vegas fire captain, has backed down from a pledge made a year ago that he would not trade shifts with colleagues while he serves in Carson City.
In a February 2004 interview with the Sun, Oceguera said that in lieu of trading shifts he would probably take a leave of absence without pay during future sessions. He also said at the time he wanted to continue working weekend shifts at his job of overseeing one of six city fire stations.
But Oceguera's time sheet with the city shows he traded three shifts in March, and he said this week he will trade six other shifts with Capt. Mike Bako. He will repay Bako by working shifts for him in July and August, Oceguera said.
Oceguera said he's doing nothing wrong and that his comments from a year ago weren't intended to be an iron-clad guarantee. He said Thursday that he qualified his comments at the time by saying that's what he "probably" would do.
Oceguera said his nine shift trades in 2005 cut in half what he did two years ago and are well below the 40 shift trades during his first session in 2001. He said he cut back on the trades because of the negative media attention, but couldn't afford to stop the practice entirely.
"I want to maintain the ability to get a paycheck," Oceguera said. "I still have to make house payments."
The 36-year-old Oceguera was one of several area public employees who have come under scrutiny for getting paychecks while working as a lawmaker. His annual salary from the city is $87,576, minus any unpaid leave and not including any overtime. He earns $7,800 for the legislative session.
A bill by Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, requiring employees like Oceguera to take unpaid leave was approved this week by the Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections. A vote is pending in the full Senate.
A Sun story a year ago said Oceguera owed almost 800 hours to fellow firefighters who worked shifts for him since 1999. That is equivalent to 33 24-shifts.
Without knowing the amounts, Oceguera contends that number was much lower and that most of the hours owed to colleagues that can be repaid, have been repaid. The city's contract with firefighters allows them to trade shifts.
North Las Vegas firefighters work nine to 10 shifts of 24 hours each in a month. The typical firefighter works three 24-hour shifts with a day off in between the three shifts. Firefighters get four days off after the third shift.
Oceguera said he used vacation and holiday time and took 10 shifts as a leave of absence during the 2003 session. He joked he has lived a boring life and is using more of his saved up holiday and vacation pay to make up for fewer shift trades this time.
"I like public service, and this is a way to give something back to the community," Oceguera said.
Oceguera has taken two days of unpaid leave in March and plans on taking six more during the session. He took 149 hours of vacation time in February and March -- the equivalent of a little more than six days, according to city pay records.
Oceguera accumulates 12 days of holiday pay a year and nearly 12 days of vacation pay as a 14-year employee of the department. He also accumulates 12 days of sick time a year, but isn't permitted to use sick time while serving in Carson City. He said he will use 12 vacation days and seven holidays during the session.
The city records showed Oceguera took three days off in February under the category of other leave. He said that was bereavement leave for the death of his father prior to the start of the legislative session.
The city pay records show Oceguera will work 139 hours in February and March and 24 hours of overtime in March. Oceguera said he will end up working 17 24-shifts on weekends during the session. That is up from none during his first term in 2001 when he relied heavily on shift trades, he said.
New North Las Vegas Fire Chief Al Gillespie said shift trading is allowed under the contract and pointed out the practice occurs throughout the country.
"As long as the job here is done, that is the important part for the citizens and the department," Gillespie said.
Titus said she's optimistic about her bill's passage in the Senate. She said her version has been amended so that local governments aren't bound to grant unpaid leave to their employees serving in Carson City.
A political science professor at UNLV, Titus said she's on unpaid leave and that there shouldn't be any exceptions because of the public perception over government employees drawing two paychecks at the same time.
"Once you open the door for vacation time and trading shifts and having someone work weekends and nights, there will be a thousand exceptions and we will be right back where we are," Titus said.
Titus said she fears public employees in the Assembly will try and keep the bill from coming to a vote. She maintains her motives aren't political despite a looming run for the Democratic nomination for governor against Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, a deputy police chief in Henderson who this session is using vacation time and unpaid leave.
Oceguera said he doesn't know if the bill will get a vote, but it will get a fair hearing. He said he doesn't see a problem when employees like himself are willing to take vacation time, unpaid leave and go home and work on the weekends.
The bill's passage would discourage public employees from running for office, he said.
Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, said Oceguera can't be faulted for his willingness to work weekends and take vacation pay, but he said he supports the Titus bill. The co-owner of two construction companies, Lee said his businesses don't make as much money when he's away.
"We have to make sacrifices in order to do this," Lee said. "We can't carve out bills for people even if they are playing fair and doing their job admirably.""
archive
