Judge orders Landrieu administration to pay firefighters back pay

Less than a week after New Orleans firefighters and their supporters held a memorial for their comrades who died without receiving back pay owed to them by the City of New Orleans, Orleans Parish Civil Court Judge Kern Reese said that the tussle between the City of New Orleans and the New Orleans Fire Department has gone on long enough and needs to be resolved.

Reese told the City of New Orleans Thursday to get ready to pay the millions of dollars owed to firefighters, some of whom have since died hoping to receive money owed to them.

WWL News reports that the firefighters celebrated a small victory on the steps of the Orleans Parish Civil Court building but remain cautiously optimistic. Now that the city has been ordered to pay back pay to fire fighters, the next steps will be setting the date and how that will happen.

First Deputy Mayor Andy Kopplin, who was expected to be in court Thursday, didn’t show. The only person in attendance from the city was an attorney.

Lawyers for the firefighters say they are not expecting a large lump sum, as this could disrupt the current budget. However, they would settle for increment payments.

Firefighters say they just want the issue resolved.

This has been one of the oldest issues on the courts books, dating back to the late ’70s. There have been several numbers thrown around as far as how much is actually owed. The latest was $79 million.

“It will happen,” Nick Felton, president of the NOLA Fire Fighters Association told WWL. “We are comfortable. There will be some legal maneuvering, but we won’t stand for that. It is time to stop that type of maneuvering.

Felton went on to say he agreed with Reese’s ruling.

“He definitely made some good points and set a date. It is time to get this money flowing and we must insist on pay. We need to make this happen.”

Both sides will meet again June 25 to start mediation on how the payments will work out and how much. The group will meet on July 28 if nothing is done on that date.

Last month, Judge Reese said he would not hesitate to send CNO officials to jail for refusing to comply with court orders to pay the New Orleans firefighters what is owed to them.

This article originally published in the June 15, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.