West Hawaii battalion chiefs and fire chief take the stand

HILO — West Hawaii Battalion Chief Ty Medeiros claimed Friday he lost $3,000 to $4,000 in overtime every two weeks when he was put on seven months paid leave last year for publicly criticizing Fire Chief Darren Rosario.

During a daylong Merit Appeals Board hearing, Medeiros said he was humiliated when he was stripped of his badge and his rank insignia in front of his peers.

Fellow Battalion Chief Steve Loyola said he also saw the removal of his own badge and insignia as a disciplinary measure.

“We worked 25 years and went through hell to get it and to have it stripped away, to me, that’s a big deal,” said Loyola, a 25-year employee.

Medeiros and Loyola, who were put on paid leave during an investigation into letters criticizing the chief they wrote to the Fire Commission and the mayor, took their grievance to the Merit Appeals Board last year. Rosario, a 26-year employee, has been fire chief since September 2011.

“I was surprised of the content of this letter from someone who was a longtime family friend as well as a subordinate,” Rosario said of Medeiros.

Rosario said stripping the uniforms of rank wasn’t a disciplinary measure, but was part of putting the two on paid administrative leave pending the results of an internal investigation.

“Under my authority as fire chief I had the badge and rank insignia removed,” Rosario said.

Medeiros and Loyola, who had consistently received satisfactory job evaluations, are seeking monetary damages for their treatment. Medeiros has since returned to work. Loyola took an early retirement that he said will cost him an additional $3,000 annually in lost benefits the rest of his life.

“There were a lot of unhappy people in the fire department,” Loyola said, adding that they asked him to address the Fire Commission about their issues. “Not only putting the public at a safety risk, but also us, the employees of the fire department.”

He said the fire department had no plan in place for emergencies such as Hurricane Iselle and tsunamis. Under questioning from Medeiros’ and Loyola’s attorney Ted Hong, Loyola detailed an emergency response full of chaos and a lack of communication.

Asked how he felt testifying before the Fire Commission, he said, “I felt that I would be retaliated against.”

Rosario, asked by his attorney, Deputy Corporation Counsel Steven Strauss, whether he ever took retaliatory action against the battalion chiefs, replied, “absolutely not.”

The fire department has a regulation stating, “no member shall publicly criticize or ridicule the department, its policies or the members … when such action tends to impair the good order or efficiency of the department, interferes with the ability of officers to maintain discipline or it’s made with reckless disregard for truth or falsity.”

Employees agree to follow the rules as a condition of employment.

Medeiros, under cross-examination by Strauss, said overtime pay is a common and standard part of battalion chiefs’ pay. The battalion chiefs basically handle overtime on a “rank-for-rank” basis and set their own schedules to cover vacancies, he said.

“It was our practice to cover the positions that are vacant the best way we can,” Medeiros said. “It’s afforded to us based on the position we hold.”

Rosario disagreed.

“He was not scheduled to work any overtime so that would be zero,” Rosario said in response to questioning by Hong as to how much overtime pay was lost.

The board, on its third all-day hearing Friday, will later rule whether the fire department violated any statutes, regulations or rules when the two firefighters were put on leave, and if so, what remedy can be awarded.

The board made no comment on the case, limiting its input to sporadic questions for clarification. The board next meets March 10.