| Fair Labor Standards Overtime The Fair Labor Standard Overtime provision is enjoyed by Raleigh Firefighters today because of the persistent efforts of the IAFF. After the 1985 Garcia Decision, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, the U.S. Conference of Mayors joined forces in an effort to have Senate Bill 1570 and similar bills passed which would have exempted professional firefighters from overtime pay. Whether cities choose to give firefighters time off during an uninterrupted FLSA work cycle or pay overtime, the benefit to Raleigh firefighters earning $900 bi-weekly is the equivalent of $48 per month. IRS Notice 87-13 In 1987, the IRS issued notice 87-13 causing concern for state and local employees with respect to taxation of "basic employee benefit plans" such as, sick leave, disability pay, and others. The IRS' intentions were to tax the employee at the time of accrual. This included benefits already banked by the employee. The taxation would have also included any insurance premiums paid by cities on the employee. If it had not been for the IAFF and other public employees unions passing corrective legislation, Raleigh firefighters' salary checks would be much smaller.  | For a firefighter earning $900 bi-weekly each 24 hour sick day banked would have cost approximately $20 in taxes. How many sick days have you accumulated? | | Health care and life insurance premiums would have been approximately $20 per month in additional taxes. | Infectious Disease Hospitals and medical associations worked to defeat legislation that would have required giving out information to first responders who had come in contact with a diseased person. After several years of united effort, the IAFF was successful in getting the "Infectious Disease Notification Law" passed and continues to assist locals in protecting their members under this law. No one wants an infectious disease nor do they want to unknowingly carry a disease home to their family. Pass-Through Insurance During the Savings and Loan bail-out, several members of Congress and former President Bush wanted to limit FDIC coverage of pensions to $100,000 regardless of the number of participants in the plan. The IAFF was successful in passing legislation to maintain coverage to $100,000 for each participate in the plan. Losing pensions due to bank failure would be devastating to all North Carolina family's security. How much is this worth to you in Raleigh? IRC Section 415 Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) was developed to prevent taxpayer subsidies of exorbitant pensions sometimes paid to top executives of major companies. A major problem developed due to the method the IRS used to compute the Section 415 limits which fails to take into account certain features of public employee pension plans threatening the tax exempt status of North Carolina firefighter pensions. If this had happened, firefighters would pay more taxes now and receive smaller pension benefits when they retire. | The IAFF took the lead in passing legislation to establish a fair method of calculating Section 415 limitations on pensions to protect public employees pension plans against losing their tax exempt status. | | Raleigh firefighters earning $900 bi-weekly would have paid approximately $20 per month in additional taxes plus taxes on all accrued benefits if this legislation had not passed. | Other IAFF Legislative Projects: | Federal Hatch Act Reform (Passed) | | Continue FLSA overtime protection | | Firefighter National Collective Bargaining | | Hazardous Materials Transportation Identification Legislation | | Manufacturer Presumptive Liability for firefighter protective clothing and equipment | | High Risk Occupational Disease Notification and Prevention | | National Health Care | | Expanding OSHA coverage to public employees | | Making IRS Section 457 more secure for public employees | | And many others! | Other IAFF Departments Due to the success of the IAFF's legislative agenda through the years, firefighters in Raleigh receive back many times more than what it costs for monthly union dues. The reason for being a member of the IAFF, however, does not begin and end with its political and legislative activities. In addition to services available from the offices of the Executive Board Officers, the IAFF has eight departments to assist the Raleigh local in numerous areas: | Department of Technical Assistance and Labor Issues | | Department of Education and Information Resources | | Department of Occupational Health and Safety | | Department of Hazardous Materials Training Grants and Programs | | Department of Governmental Affairs and Political Action | | Department of Public Relations and Communications | | Department of EMS | | Department of Special Events | | In-house Legal Services | Over 70 IAFF publications, videos and training modules are available to our local through a phone call. Technical assistance is also available to help with local issues-- researching municipal financial documents, minimum manning, privatization and public relations programs, to name a few. This webpage only gives a glimpse into "The Worth" of the IAFF to the Raleigh firefighters. An "Overview of Membership Services" manual is available to help educate our members. These are only a few reasons why it is so important that all professional firefighters be members of the IAFF. Uniting firefighters is the key to the IAFF's success. | 
