A dozen Manhattan Beach firefighters are suing the city in federal court, alleging top officials retaliated against them for publicly railing against short staffing that required them to work “crushing” amounts of overtime, especially during the COVID pandemic.
Once considered a “crown jewel” of Manhattan Beach, the city’s Fire Department began to suffer in 2018, when Bruce Moe, a defendant in the lawsuit, took over as city manager and refused to fill nine vacant department positions to save on future pension and benefits costs, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 21, in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
From March 2018 to June 2022, the suit alleges, Moe and city human resources directors refused to fill the vacancies in a lean department that had only 29 positions, not including the fire chief. During that time, and even through the end of 2023, thethe remaining firefighters worked dramatically more overtime.
The overtime demand was especially pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which jeopardized the safety of both the firefighters and the public, according to the lawsuit.
“Moe’s ill-conceived vision of ‘budget efficiency’ is the epitome of the penny-wise, pound-foolish thinking of a person who has never had to work 24 hours straight, without sleep, as a first responder to emergency calls,” the lawsuit states. “Moe’s approach, which resulted in brutal and excessive mandatory overtime for 20 firefighters who had to do the work of 30 firefighters, took a severe physical and psychological toll on plaintiffs.”
Also named as a defendant in the lawsuit is Manhattan Beach Human Resources Director Lisa Jenkins, who the plaintiffs allege worked in tandem with Moe to, among other things, block promotions of firefighters who spoke out publicly against the city and launch baseless, retaliatory disciplinary investigations against union leadership, the lawsuit alleges.
City spokesperson Alexandria Latragna said in a statement Friday, May…
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