Bipartisan Senate bill would boost pay, alleviate grueling schedule for federal firefighters

Sens. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, on Thursday introduced new legislation aimed at boosting benefits for federal firefighters and improving their work-life balance.

The federal government’s corps of firefighters, many of whom work to contain wildfires, have struggled for years with high attrition due to the positions’ low pay and grueling schedule when compared to their state or municipally employed counterparts. Congress and the Biden administration took several steps to alleviate these issues, including pay raises and an effort to update their positions to better reflect their duties, but the agencies that employ them still have thousands of unfilled firefighter jobs.

Currently, federal firefighters work a 72-hour workweek, of which 19 hours are mandatorily scheduled as overtime. But for the purposes of their benefits calculation under the Federal Employees Retirement System, those overtime hours are treated as basic—not premium—pay.

The Federal Firefighters Families First Act would cut federal firefighters’ work week to 60 hours, reducing mandatory overtime to seven hours per week, with the stipulation that their pay checks should remain “steady” after the change. And it would require FERS to accurately count those scheduled overtime hours at their premium pay rate when calculating their retirement benefits.

Federal firefighters may continue to opt into additional overtime over the normal work week, though those hours would continue not to count toward their FERS benefits.

“Federal firefighters protect our communities from wildfires and keep our veterans and service members safe," Gallego said in a statement. “But right now, these brave men and women are forced to work grueling hours at pay rates far below what other firefighters make. It’s unacceptable, and I’m proud to introduce bipartisan legislation to fix it.”

Randy Erwin, national president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents around 10,000 federal wildland firefighters, applauded the bill’s introduction.

“Federal firefighters are critical to maintaining our military strength and protecting federal worksites, both at home and abroad,” Erwin said. “NFFE is proud to endorse the Federal Firefighters Families First Act, which will ensure these first responders are fairly compensated and provided the retirement benefits they deserve for serving our country. This legislation will help the federal government to employ and retain the very best personnel for these important positions.”