LAKE CHARLES — Staffing at city fire stations is one-third below ideal levels, as a year-old lawsuit over inadequate pay lingers over the department’s efforts to recruit new firefighters. Officials say the safety of residents and businesses aren’t at risk, but firefighters at one station have been forced to relocate while their air-conditioning is not working.  

Jared Chandler, Firefighters Union 0561 liaison, told the Illuminator the optimal number of full-time employees for the department is 182 — a number that city Public Information Officer Katie Harrington confirmed. There are currently 37 LCFD job vacancies, with 34 of them in fire suppression, she said. 

“We are definitely lacking in personnel, as is shown by the number,” Chandler said.

Members of the Firefighters Union Local 561 say the inability to fill those jobs stems, in part, from a complicated compensation structure. The union filed a lawsuit March 3, 2023, in local state court claiming multiple instances when the city paid new firefighters more than those with higher ranks. 

The city implemented a new salary system in January 2023 that increased firefighter pay based on their position and years of service. However, the system doesn’t adhere to state law, according to the lawsuit.

Louisiana law requires firefighters receive 2% annual increases in pay after reaching three years of continuous service for up to 20 years. It also lists the minimum salary increases for specific firefighter ranks.

The lawsuit names Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter, City Administrator John Cardone Jr. and all City Council members as defendants. 

Assistant City Attorney Christopher E. John denied the allegations in his response to the union’s court complaint. Litigation is ongoing, and the next court date isn’t available on record. 

The union’s requests include that the city adopt an equitable pay schedule for firefighters that “maintain(s) the minimum salary differential between ranks,” including 2% annual increases mandated by law. They also ask for an end to lump sum payments and compensation owed for back pay and pension payments.

Lake Charles firefighters have been outspoken before about being paid commensurate with their duties and experience. Their union staged a days-long picket line in front of City Hall in July 2022 over wages as low as $11.17 per hour. By December that year, the City Council had adopted a new pay matrix and amended it in January this year.

Public records the Illuminator obtained indicate that, as of January, the annual salary for an entry-level Lake Charles firefighter is $33,503, or $11.51 per hour for an average 56-hour workweek. The city also pays $600 monthly supplemental pay for all new firefighters during their first year of service. Upon completing the first year, the state pays the $600 monthly supplement.

Lake Charles is actually on par with pay for entry-level firefighters in Baton Rouge, who make a little over $33,200 per year for a 56-hour workweek in a city with nearly three times the population and twice the land area.  

Kenner, which has about 15,000 fewer people than Lake Charles and only a third of the area, pays its firefighters a starting salary of $22,287 for 40 work hours per week, with an hourly wage of less than $9.00. Kenner has faced a similar lawsuit from its firefighters over their compensation.

The fire recruit classification for the New Orleans Fire Department has a starting base salary of $40,896. 

Fire Chief Delton “DC” Carter says the department currently employs 123, not including support staff, and that the department can always use more personnel.

“We have maneuvered staffing so that we have been able to continuously provide the level of service needed for our run area,” Carter said. “Since I have been chief, I have never felt like we have provided inadequate staffing or an inadequate level of service or care for our run area.”

Carter has been in charge of the Lake Charles Fire Department since 2022 and joined its ranks in 1999.

While the Lake Charles firefighters union’s lawsuit alleges inadequate pay, some members say inadequate facilities are also an issue. For at least 56 days, Fire Station 5 in the southeastern section of the city had no functioning air conditioning. District F City Council member Craig Marks said in a Facebook post the city has been working on the HVAC problem at the station since February.

Marks also said Station 5 firefighters were temporarily relocated while the AC issues were being addressed. Sources who wished to remain anonymous out of concern for their job security said a used air conditioner was temporarily placed in Station 5, and its firefighters were relocated to another station. As of last Saturday, no firefighters have been on shift at Station 5 except to clean the facility, the Illuminator determined.

There are eight fire stations in Lake Charles, and the city has a joint services agreement with Calcasieu Parish to occupy two stations in Ward Three that were previously staffed with volunteers.

According to the city’s website, Lake Charles’ Insurance Service Office (ISO) fire rating is currently a Class Two, the next-to-highest rating. Carter said the city has maintained this fire rating for more than 40 years.

“It was not always at a two, but we were eventually able to move up to that,” Chandler said. “Your city’s fire rating directly affects people’s insurance premiums, and there are many factors that determine that rating, one of them being the amount of personnel a department has and its response times.”

Lake Charles covers the cost of city fire protection from its general fund, as opposed to a dedicated tax or fee that some municipalities and parishes collect for their fire departments. Harrington said fire protection costs account for nearly 26% of general fund expenditures, second only to city police (27.8%) and just ahead of public works spending (25%).

Across all of city government, salaries and wages make up 39% of general fund spending.

The city’s current budget for fiscal year 2023-24, which began Oct. 1, lists expenditures totaling $22.8 million for the fire department – a 6% increase from the prior year. Salaries, overtime, retirement contributions and other fringe benefits account for 73% of department spending, down from 86% five years ago.

Regarding recruitment, Chandler said the Lake Charles Fire Department has “a great deal of difficulty” as the lowest-paid department in the area. 

“Even when we do get recruits, a lot of the time we lose them after hiring them to surrounding stations,” Chandler said.

According to employees at the Sulphur Fire Department, their entry-level base salary exceeds $36,500 for a 40-hour workweek. The Lafayette Fire Department indicated recruits can expect to make about $34,600 starting pay for a 50-hour average work week that comes to an hourly wage of $13.30. 

The Carlyss Fire Department, just southwest of Lake Charles, uses a combination of volunteer and career firefighters. Chief Mark Ware Jr. said the starting salary for career firefighters is $42,000 for nearly 40 hours a week, including incentive pay.

Carter advised those who enter the firefighting profession don’t do so for the compensation. 

“A career in the fire service, like any public safety career, is a calling to be answered,” Carter said. “The recruitment challenges we face are similar to those faced nationwide at this time. However, we are seeing an increased interest as of late.”

NEW ORLEANS, La., April 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC (“KSF”), announces that KSF continues its investigation into Inotiv, Inc. (NasdaqCM: NOTV).

On November 5, 2021, the Company completed its purchase of Envigo RMS, LLC (“Envigo”) after several months of discussion and due diligence reviews. However, from July 2021 onward, Envigo’s Cumberland Facility had been charged with numerous serious violations, many repeated, of the Animal Welfare Act (“AWA”) for cruel and inhumane treatment of dogs intended for scientific research use. The violations culminated with the execution of a federal search warrant at the facility on May 18, 2022 and a lawsuit filed on May 19, 2022 by the U.S. Attorney General against Envigo for violations of the AWA. Notably, the Company failed to detect and/or otherwise remedy the serial violations by Envigo during its supposed due diligence reviews and multiple inspections during the acquisition process of Envigo, or to disclose the violations to shareholders.

Thereafter, the Company and certain of its executives were sued in a securities class action lawsuit, charging them with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, which remains ongoing. Recently, the court presiding over that case denied the Company’s motion to dismiss, allowing the case to move forward.

KSF’s investigation is focusing on whether Inotiv’s officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to its shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws. 

If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of Inotiv shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn ([email protected]), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nasdaqcm-notv/ to learn more.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation’s premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients – including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors – in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, Delaware, California, Louisiana and New Jersey.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.

Contact:

Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC
Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner
[email protected]
1-877-515-1850
1100 Poydras St., Suite 3200
New Orleans, LA 70163

SOURCE Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

Student-athletes at Louisiana universities could be allowed to work with marketing representatives if lawmakers agree to update the state’s name, image and likeness (NIL) rules. It’s one of a few proposed tweaks to a law that has upended the revenue stream for collegiate athletics.

Sen. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, said the contents of Senate Bill 465 will allow schools, mainly LSU, to keep in with the rapidly evolving and highly competitive NIL space.

Marketing professionals were specifically included in the bill in order to link student-athletes with more money-making opportunities, the senator said. They’re distinct from agents, who typically represent the athletes in their dealings with professional organizations. 

The bill would also require athletes to disclose any NIL contract they sign worth $600 or more, the same income threshold for required reporting to the Internal Revenue Service on Form 1099, which is used for money earned from an individual or business that isn’t an employer. 

Talbot’s proposal would also change financial literacy classes to an annual requirement. Currently, student-athletes are only required to take a single class between their first and third academic years.

Colleges would also be allowed to provide resources on financial responsibility, business formation and marketing if Senate Bill 465 becomes law.

Winston Decuir, general counsel for the LSU System, accompanied Talbot when he presented his bill Wednesday to the Senate Committee on Education.

“You have a lot of athletes, especially female athletes, that have higher opportunities at the collegiate level than they do at the pro level,” Decuir said.

LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne has an NIL valuation of $2.6 million, tops among women college athletes.

Basketball standouts Kaitlyn Clark from the University of Iowa and LSU’s Angel Reese, both first-round picks in Monday’s WNBA draft, will sign contracts with their respective teams that are worth far less than money they’ve made in college through NIL deals.

College athletic departments are also seeing impacts to their financial bottom line as NIL becomes more prominent, Decuir said. Corporate sponsors that once put their dollars exclusively into universities are now splitting those investments between student-athletes and schools.

“It’s going to require universities to reallocate their expenses,” he said.

“NIL is going to change the business model of college athletics,” Decuir added, “and a lot of people view it as an equitable change.”