More than 100 Chula Vista firefighters will be reimbursed for overtime they earned, but were not paid for.
Those employees just settled a federal lawsuit they filed last year.
They will receive more than $1 million in compensation and damages, plus attorney’s fees and costs. The city will pay the firefighters $539,000 in overtime, plus $470,000 in damages. The fees and costs for their lawyers totaled $30,000.
The city attorney’s office said the problem came to light when a random audit revealed that the city had mistakenly short-changed firefighters approximately one hour of overtime for each work period, for several years.
The city attorney’s office said Chula Vista then worked in good faith to determine how much it owed the firefighters. The firefighters said they filed their lawsuit to protect their financial interests.
According to federal court records, the two sides reached an agreement December 15.
The city attorney’s office told NBC 7, "Going forward, we have corrected those issues and will perform audits, to ensure it doesn't happen again."
