Report rips Denver Fire Department commanders for use of comp time: "An organizational failing"

A blistering, 26 page report on the use of comp or flex time by Denver's fire chief and his top seven commanders calls the years-long practice a violation of Denver's Revised Municipal Code, "an organizational failing" and a "problematic practice." Mayor Mike Johnston said after the report was released Tuesday night he was asking Fire Chief Desmond Fulton to repay some of the vacation time Fulton has cashed out since 2023, and the mayor said what happened was "A troubling and systemic misuse of Flex Time."

The investigative report, authored by former U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer, was prompted by a CBS News Colorado Investigation in April which revealed Fulton and his top commanders were awarding themselves comp time for attending everything from firefighter memorials to retirement ceremonies to community events, then using the accrued comp time for vacations, allowing Fulton and his executive staff to then cash out unused vacation time at the end of each year. The report notes that Fulton cashed in unused vacation days between 2021 and 2023 for about $42,000. For the same time period, two division chiefs were paid $25,000 and $27,000 for unused vacation days while other command staff members received between $11,000 to $19,000 for unused vacation time during the same three years.

"All current Command Staff members 'banked' and later used (comp time hours) instead of using available vacation leave," said the report. "They all received larger cash payouts for unused vacation leave than they otherwise would have. All of them engaged and benefitted financially from this practice."

However, the report authors said none of the department commanders "fully exploited it to maximize payouts for unused vacation hours." They did not intend to violate the law, said the report, but "this practice did violate the Denver Revised Municipal Code," which prohibits fire department executive staff from collecting additional compensation for working extra hours.

In a written statement Tuesday night, Fire Chief Desmond Fulton wrote, "I take full responsibility for continuing a problematic timekeeping practice that violated city policy."

While Fulton and his top staff were cashing in unused vacation days, they prohibited rank and file firefighters from doing the same thing. The report calls that a "double standard" that was "contradictory, appeared hypocritical and ... unjustified."

The report says the comp time practice that is now being halted started 13 years ago by a previous chief who wanted department commanders to be able to show how many extra hours they were working. The report says that DFD's "insular culture" allowed the practice to go on for more than a decade.

"Tracking extra hours turned into banking extra hours and using them instead of vacation leave," said the report.

The practice was stopped in April immediately after the CBS News Colorado reports on the comp time abuse.

The report is most critical of Fulton, who the report says, "Was the most assiduous user of Kelly Day/Flex time. He repeatedly coded blocks of four to five days off in a row as Kelly Day/Flex time used instead of coding that time off as vacation or sick leave. He also used more Kelly day/Flex time than anyone else," according to the report. "He had the highest number of hours paid out as unused vacation leave."

The investigators verified what CBS News Colorado previously reported -- that Fulton was essentially getting paid to attend firefighter memorials, dinners at firehouses and community events. Critics said those duties should have been viewed as part of his $230,000 a year job.

Troyer's report reviewed hundreds of pages of records and 37 interviews were conducted. He said various defenses of the comp time practice were offered but were "unpersuasive" and despite assertions that what was done was "best practice" he wrote that "we were unable to identify any fire departments that permit the use of compensatory or flex time in lieu of vacation hours for salaried, exempt executives in the same manner as DFD command staff used Kelly day/Flex time."

 The report zeroes in on a 2022 national firefighter memorial in Maryland that Fulton attended with two of his command staff members. For the weekend, Fulton awarded himself 19 hours of comp time then used those hours to take three days off.

"Chief Fulton in essence converted the 19 hours he spent at the memorial into 19 hours of saved vacation leave for which he was paid," reads the report.

In a statement Tuesday evening, Denver Manager of Safety Armando Saldate said he would review the new report to see if disciplinary action against top fire department commanders was warranted.

The report recommends Fulton and his staff no longer be allowed to work four 10 hour days and that command staff should undergo mandatory training each year on the prohibitions against accruing and using comp time.

The report also notes that what has been happening creates the future possibility of additional monetary benefits for Fulton, his deputy chief and six division chiefs, as the vacation cashout amounts are included in a DFD member's base salary which is then used as the basis for calculating his or her post-retirement pension payments. The report says the impact on pension payments cannot be calculated until the command staff members leave the department.

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