By Greg Grisolano

news@joplinglobe.com

PITTSBURG, Kan. - Pittsburg city officials have filed an insurance claim to recoup more than $122,260 in overpaid salaries for firefighters.

City Manager Allen Gill says he believes a policy rider covering employee-related losses will cover the error, which reportedly resulted from an incorrect formula for calculating overtime pay for non-salaried firefighters.

"Most policies cover employee theft or dishonesty, which this is neither of the above," Gill said. "But it is nonetheless a loss. And there is a rider in our policy that would seem to cover this type of loss."

The payroll error, uncovered by auditors, was corrected in May. Thirty firefighters received on average an extra $4,075 over the course of 2005 and the first four months of 2006. Gill says the fire chief and battalion chiefs, who are on salary and do not receive overtime pay, were not affected by the glitch.

Federal rules allow firefighters to work up to 212 hours in 28 days at straight-time wages. All hours actually worked above 212 hours in 28 days must be paid at 1.5 times the straight-time rate.

But, Gill said, the city issues paychecks every two weeks, a 14-day pay period. And firefighter overtime was calculated over two pay periods, combining two time sheets. The firefighters' overtime was correctly calculated, but their straight time was overstated when the two time sheets were combined.

"When we converted to a true hourly rate system, the number of hours that they work in each pay period changes because of the nature of their schedules," Gill said. "So, no two paychecks were alike."

When the error was discovered, it was thought to affect only the few hours of overtime built into the Fire Department duty schedule, Gill said in a statement released when the mistake was first reported. Auditors determined that the overpayments affected all extra hours worked, including call-backs to cover for absent personnel.

Gill said he doesn't know how long it will take for the insurance company, St. Paul Travelers Companies Inc., to review the claim, or if indeed it will agree to pay.

"We think we have a good case on our insurance coverage, but the insurance company doesn't always agree," he said. "Anybody who has had car insurance or anything else knows how that goes."

If the claim is denied, Gill says the city will then look at alternatives to recoup the money. He declined to comment specifically on what those alternatives would be.

Disciplinary actions that might result from the internal investigation that uncovered the error are confidential and not subject to public disclosure or comment, Gill said in a statement two weeks ago. David Zacharias resigned from his post as human resource director on Aug. 14, just days before the error was made public.

Pittsburg Fire Chief Don Elmer could not be reached for comment. Gene Gilmore, a fire captain with the Pittsburg Fire Department, declined to comment for this story.