A Richmond Fire Department firefighter/EMT has filed a grievance against the department because he has not received overtime pay for work associated with a paramedicine class.
Michael Stolzfus, who joined the department Jan. 1, 2024, is enrolled with School of EMS in Winchester, a licensing program for paramedics. RPD’s new firefighters sign a contract agreeing to earn paramedic certification within five years of their hire.
RFD administration told the city’s Board of Public Works and Safety during a June 24 hearing that Stolzfus is voluntarily taking the course after the administration did not approve his participation; therefore, he does not receive overtime. Board members delayed their decision until a future meeting.
Jordan Price, the grievance chair for Fire Fighters Local 1408, presented the majority of Stolzfus’s case. Stolzfus was offered a slot in a new Reid Health paramedicine degree program but turned down the spot because it would require more than 1,200 hours away from his family. He later was informed by the acting deputy chief of EMS, Hank Dennis, about the Winchester program and available state grants to pay for the hybrid class that requires fewer than half as many in-person hours.
“I just assumed I would be taken care of just like every other person,” said Stolzfus, who is requesting overtime pay for in-person class and clinical hours, but not online hours.
Stolzfus secured the state funding, registered for the class and received a syllabus, Price said, well before Chief Jeff Kinder informed him he was not approved to take the course, but could volunteer to take it.
“I didn’t OK it,” Kinder told the board. “He volunteered for it.”
Price said that the chief of EMS gauging course interest and providing registration information has been the accepted procedure for entering a paramedicine program, and Stolzfus followed that procedure. Kinder said the chief’s office must approve course participation, then schedule and budget for the course. The administration needs that right to control how many members are enrolled in courses at any one time for shift schedules and to effectively budget, Kinder said.
Six RFD members were sent to the initial Reid program, and six more are scheduled to attend the second session later this year. Price said that program costs $9,200 plus about $38,520 in overtime for each participant. Stolzfus received the grant to pay his course fee and would receive about $15,840 in overtime.
The contract Stolzfus signed, which in his case came four months after he began work, spells out the paramedicine training requirement and RFD’s obligation to pay all costs; however, it does not indicate a course must be approved by the chief, Price said.
6Main project
Prior to the grievance hearing, the board approved 3-0 the transfer of property at 601 E. Main St. to the Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County.
The next phase of construction work began June 24 at that site for the 6Main luxury apartment complex.
A version of this article appeared in the July 2 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.