Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Firefighter terminated for sick-leave abuse could get his job back

Fired Firefighter

Steve Marcus

Donald Munn spends time with his disabled adopted son Brian, 21, at their home in Henderson Thursday, March 8, 2012. Munn, a former Clark County firefighter, says the fire department fired him for abusing sick leave but Munn says he needed to take the sick leave to care for his son. Brian Munn suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome.

Donald Munn Fired Firefighter

Donald Munn poses with his disabled adopted son Brian, 21, at their home in Henderson Thursday, March 8, 2012. Munn, a former Clark County firefighter, says the fire department fired him for abusing sick leave but Munn says he needed to take the sick leave to care for his son who suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome. Launch slideshow »

A Clark County firefighter terminated for cheating the sick-leave system is fighting to get his job back.

Ex-firefighter Donald Munn argued that he was wrongly fired before an arbitrator in a closed-door hearing in February. If Munn prevails and wins his job back, he would be eligible through another process to seek some $400,000 in disability payments upon retirement.

Munn has also filed a complaint with the Employee-Management Relations Board, contending his union abandoned its legal responsibility to represent him and that the Fire Department and county administrators violated his contractual rights.

If Munn wins the EMRB case, his legal fees, totaling some $20,000, would likely be paid by the county and/or the union.

He isn’t the only firefighter pushing back, however. Ex-Battalion Chief Renee Dillingham has also taken her case to an arbitrator, presumably to win back her job. Neither she nor her attorney could be reached for comment.

County officials declined to comment, noting both cases are unresolved. A union official also would not comment. Some of the union and county’s arguments, however, are summarized in documents filed with the EMRB.

County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, who first questioned firefighters’ use of sick leave two years ago, said if either of the employees gets their jobs back it’s a sign “the system is just broken. ... It’s just not right and I think the vast majority of the public would agree.”

Ryan Beaman, head of the county firefighters union, said: “While we will allow this individual their due process rights, our union and our Fire Department do not tolerate any violations of rules.”

Munn and his attorney, however, have argued that what’s right is abiding by a contract, which they say neither the county nor the union did.

Munn, who worked in the county’s Laughlin fire station, was fired in May 2011 a few months after an independent arbitrator sided with the county in a contract dispute with the firefighters union. The arbitrator unearthed work emails among firefighters and said it appeared they were abusing the sick-leave system by scheduling sick time in advance to maximize their earnings.

That followed a county study finding firefighters, on average, called in sick far more than other county employees.

County officials believed that over many years, firefighters had learned that if one called in sick, another could fill in and receive overtime (1.5 times regular pay) or callback pay (overtime plus a payment to the firefighter’s retirement account).

In e-mails from November 2009, a Fire Department battalion chief, Jon Klassen, even warned against abuses.

“It is becoming a common practice (again) for certain employees to place themselves on sick leave without following (the union contract),” Klassen wrote. “ ... It goes without saying that the contract allows a lot of latitude to those that would manipulate the system for their own financial gain. If we could at least make the appearance of holding the contract in some regard, it would be appreciated.”

Since these allegations first surfaced two years ago, firefighters’ use of sick leave has fallen 40 percent on average per firefighter and 90 percent for battalion chiefs. The department’s use of sick leave dropped by 57,000 hours.

In documents filed on Munn’s behalf with the EMRB, attorney Andrew Rempfer argues that Fire Chief Bertral Washington fired Munn because of political pressure that resulted from media scrutiny of sick leave. (Between March 2010 and the end of January 2011, the Sun published at least 12 articles that mentioned firefighter sick leave.)

“Washington terminated Munn to gain political praise, eliminate one of the longest-tenured and highest-earning firefighters and, importantly, to avoid future cuts to the budget ...” Rempfer wrote.

Rempfer also argued that the contract says sick-leave abuse cannot result in termination but only gives the chief the right to revoke an employee’s sick leave for six months.

Munn’s EMRB filing notes that a joint-investigative task force found that while Munn had exceeded his allotment of sick leave in March, April, July and August of 2009 and June through August 2010, he did not violate the union contract.

Rempfer cites the task force’s finding in a closing brief: “Since Firefighter Munn did not use sick leave in excess of three consecutive shifts,” he did not violate the contract. In addition, Rempfer said, Munn went back and obtained certificates for most of the dates over two years that he was sick or had to care for his adopted son.

“The county’s assertion Munn falsified these (certificates) is disgusting,” Rempfer wrote.

Rempfer argued that the fire chief added other charges in order to create “just cause” to fire Munn. The additional charges included violations of departmental policies regarding general conduct, absence without proper authorization and disruption of department performance. It also includes an unspecified violation related to computers and electronic equipment.

In its filing with the EMRB, the county says it had every right to fire Munn: “Munn engaged in misconduct in the use, communication about and responses to inquiries about his sick leave,” argued Deputy District Attorney Yolanda Givens.

Rempfer also argues that the union was influenced by political pressure when it decided not to fully represent Munn in his case before an arbitrator.

“It’s pretty nasty stuff that happened to my client,” Rempfer told the Sun, noting that Munn was called a “turkey” in a newspaper editorial last Thanksgiving.

Part of the union’s “cost-benefit analysis,” Rempfer said, was that it believed Munn, now 57, planned to soon retire: Why spend time and money trying to get Munn’s job back when he’s only going to leave it?

Indeed, while the union said it helped Munn in the first step of his arbitration, after “Munn told the Executive Board (of the union) that he had retired” and would seek permanent disability benefits, the union “decided not to pursue Munn’s appeal to arbitration.”

Munn told the Sun he had no intention of retiring, though he had injured his back when another firefighter fell into him during a fire call on Oct. 3, 2010. Two doctors said he should be temporarily placed on light duty. But Munn said that didn’t mean he intended to retire.

“I never talked to anybody about retiring,” Munn said. “But one of the union executive board members, I remember, said to me, ‘If you retire before this thing progresses, it will all end.’”

The union also argued that in this kind of disciplinary grievance, the union is not Munn’s only legal alternative. In addition, it said, previous legal decisions give the union “broad discretion about whether to proceed to arbitration on an individual grievance.”

Rempfer said he hopes the EMRB and arbitrator will issue decisions within the next month.

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