Except for a Vallejo firefighter who got a $2 million payout for wrongful termination, the list of California’s highest-earning public employees for 2016 is dominated by medical personnel – surgeons, physicians, psychiatrists, hospital directors – and a few investment officers from CalPERS, the world’s largest public employee retirement system.
But some first responders did pretty well, too, according to the data. Michael Rubino, chief port pilot II in Los Angeles, topped the state among first responders, with pay of $582,734. Patricia Knudson, chief deputy sheriff in Riverside, was second, with pay of $505,520. Then there are dozens of public workers who more than doubled their pay with huge amounts of overtime – overwhelmingly firefighters in departments from Los Angeles to Oakland, San Jose to Orange County.