Ex-firefighters now suing ex-Finance chief

The nine former firefighters who were terminated for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 are now suing ex-Finance secretary David Atalig over premium pay that they didn’t receive.

According to the complaint for injunctive relief filed by the nine former firefighters, they asked the Superior Court to order the former Finance secretary to approve and disburse $5,000 in premium pay to each of them.

The nine firefighters are Paul T. Acebedo, Jose K. Angui, Allen T. Calvo, Cain C. Castro, Argernon A. Flores, Derek B. Gersonde, Shawn DLR Kaipat, Philip Kalen, and Adam J. Safer, who filed the suit through attorney Joseph Horey.

The terminated firefighters are alleging denial of equal protection of the laws and deprivation of civil rights under the U.S. Constitution.

According to the lawsuit, on or about Dec. 29, 2021, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres announced that the Department of Finance would release $5,000 premium pay for each CNMI government employee who had worked at least 40 hours to directly mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services employees, the plaintiffs said they had worked at least 40 hours to directly mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Each of the plaintiffs submitted their respective applications for premium pay to the Department of Finance. However, they claim that, although each of them met all the qualifications for premium pay in the amount of $5,000, Atalig only approved $1,000 in premium pay for each of them, rather than the full $5,000.

“Upon information and belief, the reason that plaintiffs were paid less than full premium pay was that they had been terminated from their government employment on or about May 21, 2021, after they had already performed the amount of direct pandemic mitigation work required to qualify for full premium payment,” Horey said.

The former firefighters were terminated for insubordination following their refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine as required by the CNMI Governor’s Directive 2021-002 issued on Feb. 18, 2021.

On Aug. 3, 2022, the Civil Service Commission denied the former firefighters’ appeal and affirmed the fire department’s decision to terminate them.

They have since re-filed their lawsuit to request the court to reinstate them as firefighters. The suit remains pending in Superior Court