[quote=no_such_reality]Okay CAR, please explain the following from the State Controllers site:

Department Classification Multiple Positions Annual Salary Minimum Annual Salary Maximum Total Wages Subject to Medicare (Box 5 of W-2) Applicable Defined Benefit Pension Formula Employees’ Share of Pension Contributions Deferred Compensation Health, Dental, Vision
Fire-Rescue Fire Engineer — $61,589 $74,464 $95,971 3% @ 50 — — $7,225
Fire-Rescue Fire Engineer — $61,589 $74,464 $101,970 3% @ 50 — — $7,800
Fire-Rescue Fire Engineer — $61,589 $74,464 $100,093 3% @ 50 — — $7,969

which may not be clear. First entry, salary min $61K, Salary MAx $74K, W2- Medicare earnings $95K. the next one earnings $101K, the 3rd, $100K.

I’m not cherry picking this is common.

PLease explain…

http://lgcr.sco.ca.gov/CompensationDetail.aspx?entity=City&id=11983777600&year=2010&GetCsu=False&filter=Department:Fire%5B/quote%5D

Thank you for “cutting and pasting” and providing a link, nsr.

From what I can tell, the difference between the max salary and the amount paid would include overtime, additional duties, etc. Still, the biggest difference here was ONE person (out of 188) who made $141,665, which was 90% more than base pay, not 100%. That was a definite outlier, and I don’t know what the story would be behind that number. Most of those employees made about 20-30% above base if they worked much overtime, not 50%-100% of base.

Here’s just one sample (taken directly from the series, not edited). This one shows them averaging about 16% of base.

Fire Engineer — $61,589 $74,464 $96,105 3% @ 50 — — $9,400
Fire-Rescue Fire Engineer — $61,589 $74,464 $91,716 3% @ 50 — — $8,229
Fire-Rescue Fire Engineer — $61,589 $74,464 $82,928 3% @ 50 — — $2,231
Fire-Rescue Fire Engineer — $61,589 $74,464 $84,541 3% @ 50 — — $9,400
Fire-Rescue Fire Engineer — $61,589 $74,464 $70,101 3% @ 50 — — $7,800
Fire-Rescue Fire Engineer — $61,589 $74,464 $95,753 3% @ 50 — — $6,044
Fire-Rescue Fire Engineer — $61,589 $74,464 $89,385 3% @ 50 — — —
Fire-Rescue Fire Engineer — $61,589 $74,464 $86,393 3% @ 50

The reason for the O/T is because they have to fill every position every day, it’s not because of 24-hour shifts. This type of shift is actually less expensive for employers because they need fewer people (and fewer pensions, healthcare benefits, lower recruitment and training expenses, etc.) than if they were to have 8-hour shifts.