The Springfield Fire Pension Board on Monday unanimously voted to stop factoring double-time holiday pay into firefighter pension calculations for future hires.
The vote, taken at a special meeting to deal with the holiday-pay issue, comes on the heels of an advisory opinion issued earlier this month by the Illinois Department of Insurance advising the board that the double-time holiday pay for firefighters “is not considered pensionable salary,” contradicting a 1998 advisory opinion from the same department.
While the change for future fire department hires passed easily by a 5-0 vote, the board couldn't decide how to deal with current firefighters and whether the board could face litigation if it decides to stop the longtime practice for them.
“Constitutionally, I don’t think you can affect anyone that’s on the job,” said Don Craven, the pension board's attorney.
For each holiday that isn’t worked, Springfield firefighters receive an additional eight hours of regular holiday pay, which factors into pension calculations. At issue here, though, is the additional double-time pay firefighters receive if they work a holiday, which the latest opinion contends shouldn’t factor into their pensions.
The department opinion, issued Nov. 6, says in order for holiday pay to be considered part of a firefighter’s salary and factor into the pension, every employee would have to receive the additional compensation, whether they work the holiday or not.