Court rules in favor of police’s OT at marathon

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld an arbitrator’s decision that Pittsburgh police officers called in to work the 2016 marathon on their days off should receive a full eight hours of pay.

The opinion came three months after the city and the Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1 argued the case in the state’s highest court.

“The FOP finds it appalling that we’re required to appeal basic contractual rights all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court just to achieve table scraps of pay that is otherwise provided for by the contract,” said local FOP president Robert Swartzwelder. “The city should be ashamed of itself for wasting taxpayer’s dollars just to do this.”

The city declined to comment on legal matters.

The FOP filed a grievance with the city after the 2016 Pittsburgh Marathon, arguing that officers who were called in to work on their “pass days” — their regularly scheduled consecutive two days off each week — were not paid properly; the city argued that they were.

A neutral arbitrator ruled in October 2016 that officers who were mandated to work on their pass day were entitled to eight hours of pay just for being called in on the pass day, even if they worked fewer than eight hours, and were also entitled to be paid overtime for any hours worked beyond an eight-hour shift.

But the arbitrator also ruled partially in favor of the city, determining that those officers were not entitled to an additional four hours of overtime call-out pay for having their work day begin at times other than their designated schedules.

The city appealed to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, arguing that the arbitrator overstepped her authority when she made that determination, and won the appeal. The union then appealed that decision to Commonwealth Court, which upheld the city’s position and ruled against the union, which then appealed to the state Supreme Court.