Differential Pay and CEUs

[kst9995]

Two big questions for you guys that our union is trying to work out.

1. What's an average differential pay for a FF/Paramedic versus FF/EMT I tried searching the forum w/o success

2. How do you handle CEU hours. Currently the department hosts classes during the day with units reporting as scheduled but still available for call. However, since taking over the ambulance service alot of the medics and EMTs have been pulled out of classes for ambulance calls and the department will not pay overtime for people to come in on their days off. I know of several EMTs who only have 4 or 5 hrs of CEUs for 2005. Medics now have online CEUs (which are pretty much worthless) and get about 20-30 a year.

The local union pretty much has stated they will take any ideas we present to the city. I'm just looking for some good ideas.

[mitllesmertz1]

All of our firefighters are EMT-B, top step takes a few years or so.
FF/Emt-P make top step firefighter+15%, or eqaul to a Lt.
We can submit forms to get reimbursed for CE at overtime rate.

[croaker260]

1- We are not fire based....We are third service. I honestly do not know what our basics and intermediates make...except that like us its not enough.
Our medics make a starting wage of approx 34K+experiance (2%/year as a medic up to a max of 20%, with the balance 2% being awarded every year on the date of hire), plus merit increases every year. This total figure constitutes your base pay...no top cap.
Captains (swing up supervisors) pay is 5% over what ever your base is (with a minimum of 5 years in the department...so it tends to be in the high 40's/low 50's), Majors (FT supervisors) pay is 10% over base, FT education staff is same as Captains with out the command rank. Sounds weird but we have some senior street medics, not in a command role, making in the 70's-80's after 15-20 years in. FTO’s make the almost the same as captains when they have a preceptee only.
This is with good benefits and State retirement (same as the local FD's).


2- Our department provides written CE pretty much every month. This written CE is pretty much at the paramedic level, but we require all empyees to do it. We also do in house EMT-Basic/intermediate and Paramedic refreshers, with the Basics/I's encouraged to attend the paramedic refresher for CEU's as well.

I think that its important that every department make its EMT's attend the same training as medics when ever possible....not only is it good for professional development, but it makes them part feel like an important component of the system...it also helps stop the "I dont need to know that...I'm only a basic" attitude (which is very counter productive). Finally it makes them better able to assist the medics as well.

We also do in house ACLS, PALS, and have brought in ABLS as well.
Our paramedic refreshers are taught mostly by physicians and other "experts" in the topical material...so they are always full in attendance and get rave reviews.

On duty EMS units assigned to the classes are usually "LAST OUT" and seldom get called away. We try to avoid having to do this for more than a few hours by using something called "ed time".

Each employee gets 48 hours/year of Ed time to use. This is basically a vacation time pool that a person can put in for. If they are on duty and want to attend a class, they can go on ED time to attend it, be off the car (ambulance), and still get paid. It does not pay for people to attend classes off duty, so its not like a way to "pad" your pay check....(not accusing anyone).

If it is a class that is required specifically due to extra duties assigned, beyond the typical ACLS/PALS type thing…some form of specialty training...for example some one who is on TAC MED going to CONTOMS (or what ever they call it now)... or EMD and EMD-Q for someone who is going to review and QA EMD calls for EMS...then they get paid while they attend, plus hotel/travel arrangements if needed and a per diem. This is for specialty training only.

Now if someone needs ACLS, PALS, etc...but for what ever they DID NOT make the ACLS/PALS classes we put on several times a year...then they have to get it on their own. We will let them use ED time, but will not otherwise cover the cost of the training since we normally provide it in house.

It is also worth noting that ED time covers class time only plus an allowance for travel to work after class is done.
You couldn’t go to an eight hour class and use 24 hours of ed time to take a full day off...Ed time is for EDUCATION....you could use your vacation time for the balance though.

Does this make sense?

The county next door does not provide Ed time but a flat $400.00 education allowance per year for full time and $200.00 for part time employees. There have been some problems with this system when it comes to getting time off, but otherwise the employees seem to like it as much as we like our Ed time.

[lexfd5]

Paramedic Certification $0.325/hour
Paramedic Assigned $1.496/hour
EMT Assigned $0.78/hour

Temporary Assignment (cover for firefighter off)
Paramedic $1.339/hour
EMT $0.892/hour

These are based on an average 56 hour work week. KY statute career work 24-48 shifts.

Also senior medic on buggies without officers also recieve 5% acting officer pay for being in charge of the truck.

All our CEU are done in house.

Hope this helps.

[rumedic1]

we are County Based Third Service type. our medics are not firefighters and pay is around 36000.00 I beleive.

Now for Inservice the state of SC mandates that if you are part of a state approved inservice training program (aka your training officer and med control can sign you off for recert) That you can not be on duty OR subject to call during the training class and they are to be held monthly.
The service I work for pays you to be at inservice. Most agencys do this way they can make it mandatory and this prevents them from having to send employees to recert classes and cover shifts for class ect ect. (LESS HEADACHE for admin)

[OCFirePM]

Our medic pay differential is around 14%, I believe, over FF/EMT.

We have training classes set up every day that our engines go into training for. The only way they cut lose is if a major incident goes down, or if they are the last ones out. This usually works out to get a 2 hour CE class in. You do this 2-3 times a month and you will get your 48 hours every two hours here.

Plus if you are on OT and your unit is going to a class you can still attend and get more CE time. Those who work a lot of OT get their CEs much faster. If you need a few extra hours to get over the hump, then they go online at work to finish them off.

Hope this helps.