Salaries Published Online

[MMiz]

I was reading a blog post about a company that publishes employee salaries online.

As a government employee, my own salary is published online each year. You can literally see my name, years of service, and annual salary.

Would publishing salaries online be appropriate in EMS?

 

[NomadicMedic]

I'm a government employee. If you wanted to, you could find my base salary pretty easily.

 

[Ridryder911]

Definitely a difference between municipal/govenment vs. private

It can be a double edge sword.. I have worked for small city that I (Paramedics) were the highest paid employees.. (not considering the 24 hr shift) even was paid more than the Police & Fire Chief (yeah, that went over well...) Worse at an hourly rate medics would be at poverty level; but negotiations did not understand EMS hours or wages.

Many government employees may have the ability of union representations..etc but at many private sectors salary even discussing can lead one to disciplinary to termination.
Again, government usually being funded by tax revenue/government subsidy vs private usually being paid per billing.

R/r 911

 

[DrankTheKoolaid]

Cough was that Ryd that just posted! Wow. Great to see you back

 

[Ridryder911]

Thanks... great to be back..

R/r 911

 

[FiremanMike]

The problem with those things is that they're taken so far out of context and used as weapons. I got into a blow up with my grandpa recently because he was complaining about a police dispatcher who made $120k. I can't get my grandpa to understand that in order to make that much, that dispatcher had to work a ton of overtime, and if they hadn't worked then there'd literally have been no one to answer 911 calls, this seems to be a fault frequently of those who complain about this stuff.


Pensions are another thing that make me roll my eyes. Most people are spoonfed their understanding of how the pension works and hate me because of their faulty understanding. Then they point to cities going bankrupt and blame me, ignoring ALL OTHER poor spending habits in the history of that city.

Its not a fun time to be a public servant.

 

[Medic Tim]

you can find my salary online through a simple google search. I worked for the provincial ambulance service up until about 6 months ago and as a government employee that made over 60k my salary was posted on a website
.

 

[unleashedfury]

It can be taken out of context. a little much

Where as some salaries of govt. employees or municipalities might be well, and the taxpayers have a fit when they see that a FF or Paramedic might make 60k a year to "sit at the station and sleep all day"

OTOH I think some private based companies would be embarrassed to post to the public what they pay their employees, vs the cost of their services.

 

[Drax]

As a veteran, I can tell you that you can see the base pay of any military member, and what's more is calculate what other special pay they are entitled to by one of the many calculators online. I certainly wouldn't apply for any new job or career with out doing a google search for average salaries in my field in whichever location and asking for 1 to 2 more dollars an hour or up to several more thousands a year.

That's just business, and I'm not saying you'll get what you're asking for but you won't if you don't ask. Besides I value myself at greater than the average and if employers can see that from my application, resume, and interview, then I've made a pretty good impression. And if they won't negotiate with me because they don't want to or can't they can pay for someone who either values them self less or isn't going to work as hard and honest as I will.

 

[Drax]

And sorry for the double post but the majority of major fire districts in my area post starting salaries and some other steps.

For example, take a look at Seattle Fire:

http://www.seattle.gov/fire/employment/ffjob_benefits.htm
http://www.seattle.gov/fire/employment/documents/Firefighter Job Bulletin 2013.pdf

 

[Tigger]

I have no issues. Our district residents pay a tax to our agency . They deserve to see where the money goes.

 

[DrParasite]

I'm a government employee. If you wanted to, you could find my base salary pretty easily.

Ditto.

Although, truth be told, what do you have to hide? that you make too much money, or not enough for the job you are doing?

 

[46Young]

The problem with those things is that they're taken so far out of context and used as weapons. I got into a blow up with my grandpa recently because he was complaining about a police dispatcher who made $120k. I can't get my grandpa to understand that in order to make that much, that dispatcher had to work a ton of overtime, and if they hadn't worked then there'd literally have been no one to answer 911 calls, this seems to be a fault frequently of those who complain about this stuff.


Pensions are another thing that make me roll my eyes. Most people are spoonfed their understanding of how the pension works and hate me because of their faulty understanding. Then they point to cities going bankrupt and blame me, ignoring ALL OTHER poor spending habits in the history of that city.

Its not a fun time to be a public servant.

That misconception irritates me to no end! At my department, FF/medics and EMS Technicians (first promotion up), after fringe benefits such as cert pay, hourly ALS riding pay, FLSA, and night diff, have a base between $71k out of the academy to mid $90k. We work a 56 hour work week, so that $71k starting pay appears generous, but it would be much less if we worked a 40 hour week. For example, a rookie that has finished the fire academy and completed their field ALS internship takes in about $71k, but their hourly rate in the field is only $19.29/hr (F18, Step 3, H3 rate, H1 being the rate for a 40 hour office rate). Here's the link:

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/hr/pay-plan/fy13/fplan13.pdf

So, if the rookie were working a 40 hour workweek, their base would be $40,123.20, + $5,000 cert pay, + $5,200 in ALS riding pay ($3/hr for txp unit, $2/hr on an engine, averaged to $2.50/hr x 40 x 52), + $1500/yr in night diff, so their base would really be $51,823.20. That's not too shabby, but in Fairfax County, the cost of living is similar to the outer boroughs of NYC (where I'm from), so that pay is probably the median in NY, with the senior hospital and FDNY medics making low to mid $60's.


If a five year tech at Fairfax wants to hustle for OT, they can take in $150k or more every year, but then they're working 90-100 hours/week, on average.

What the citizens are (intentionally) not made aware of, is that a 56 hour employee, over 25 years, works the equivalent of 33.75 "40 hour/week" years. For every five employees that are hired on a 56 hour schedule, the employer saves on paying benefits/pension/hiring/training for two people. 456 x 5 = 40 x 7. The citizens also need to realize that, due to FLSA laws, the first 53 out of 56 hours of a firefighter (EMT/medic) salary are straight time.

 

[46Young]

Ditto.

Although, truth be told, what do you have to hide? that you make too much money, or not enough for the job you are doing?

See my last post. It would appear that we make too much money, but the public is grossly ignorant to the particulars of how we're paid, and why. The public just sees that, in the more affluent areas, the 56 hour people and OT hustlers are doing a lot better than they are, but don't see that we're at work many more hours than they are. For example, my take for 2013 was well over the base of the typical mid-level healthcare practitioner, and a good number of people that hold Master's Degrees. I also put in 90+ hours/week, on the average. Sure, a decent chunk of those hours were spent working out, knocking out online college courses, playing dish games, and sleeping, but I wasn't responding from home, and running several calls after 2200 hrs every night is the norm.