Knoxville's long serving firefighters just watched their pay fight go up in smoke. On Wednesday, a federal judge dismissed their lawsuit challenging the city's 2022 pay step system, ruling the claims were filed too late to move forward. The firefighters say the plan misclassified veteran crew members and left many of them stuck on lower steps, and the decision now has them weighing a possible appeal while the city’s pay overhaul stays under scrutiny.
U.S. District Judge Katherine A. Crytzer tossed the complaint in an order Wednesday after finding the firefighters had missed the statute of limitations deadline, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. The suit started with six plaintiffs and eventually grew to include as many as 18 employees, all seeking retroactive pay and reclassification tied to the 2022 Pay Step Plan. Attorney Richard Collins told the paper that his clients “respectfully disagree with Crytzer’s opinion and are evaluating next steps.”
What the 2022 pay step plan did
The firefighters argued that the 2022 Pay Step Plan overhauled how the city calculates uniformed pay by cross-referencing a firefighter’s rank and years of service and setting a multi-step scale instead of using previous formulas. They say the city placed firefighters who had five or more years in their current rank on an arbitrary, lower step, a shift they contend hit older workers especially hard, as reported by WVLT. The complaint notes that many of the named plaintiffs are 49 or older and have decades of service with the department.
Who joined the case
The original complaint, filed by attorney Richard Collins, listed Kevin Faddis and five others as plaintiffs. Faddis is a former union head who also served on an advisory committee that helped design the Pay Step Plan, a detail plaintiffs say complicates the dispute. The firefighters asked the city to move affected workers to what they call the correct step and to reveal the formula used to place employees, but city rules reportedly label pay placement as non-grievable, according to HereKnoxville. City officials have previously said consultants and employee representatives were involved in crafting the overhaul.
Legal outlook
The judge's dismissal was procedural, rooted in the statute of limitations rather than a finding on whether the city misapplied the pay plan, so the court did not rule on the core pay placement claims, per the Knoxville News Sentinel. Collins said his clients are weighing whether to appeal or pursue other legal options. The city did not respond to a request for comment. For now, the decision leaves the underlying allegations unresolved and keeps the spotlight on how the Pay Step Plan was rolled out.
