Old Lyme Officials Briefed on $6,133 Payout to Ambulance Employee After Labor Complaints

OLD LYME, CT — An Old Lyme Volunteer Ambulance Association employee is set to receive $6,133 through an agreement described by First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker as both a settlement and a separation. 

Shoemaker at Tuesday’s Board of Finance meeting told members the undisclosed employee filed complaints with the Department of Labor for alleged workplace and safety violations. She said the report filed with the state Occupational Safety and Health Division alleged the man’s uniforms were not delivered in time, while the other complaint said he should have been paid time and a half or double time on Memorial Day.

The matter was discussed in executive session at Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting with ambulance association Chief Peter Ross and town labor attorney Patrick McHale in attendance. Shoemaker and Selectman Jim Lampos voted at the time to forward the draft settlement agreement to the finance board, with outgoing Selectwoman Jude Read absent. 

“We realized that this person will probably become more constant with litigious filings, and the EMS group would like to see such persons to a better home,” she said. 

The draft agreement was vetted by McHale and approved by the state, according to Shoemaker. She said the labor attorney asked for the “blessing” of selectmen and finance board members on the proposed agreement before it is signed.

Shoemaker told the finance board that the details of the draft agreement, which she allowed board members to view during the meeting, won’t be publicly available until it is signed. The state’s Freedom of Information Act allows town officials to withhold “preliminary drafts” as long as the public interest in withholding such documents clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure. 

She said the $6,133 payout includes $133 for the Memorial Day overtime pay, with the rest proposed by the town to address the uniform dispute. The $6,000 figure represents about 10 weeks of pay at two shifts per week. 

“This will cost us much less than if we had to start going to the hearings at the OSHA board,” she said. 

The employee is currently out of work due to a medical issue, according to Shoemaker. He’s been with the ambulance association since March. 

Finance board member David Kelsey said the town has already spent about $3,000 in legal fees on the issue.

“So it’s going to be ten grand to take care of this guy,” he said. He asked whether the proposed agreement was a settlement or a separation.

Shoemaker, who described the agreement as both a settlement and separation, said the employee is “not coming back.”

The legal fees come from the first selectman office’s budget for legal counsel, she said. Budget documents show $80,000 has been allocated for legal fees in the current fiscal year. 

The amount paid out through the settlement will come from the independent ambulance association’s budget for salaries, Shoemaker said. 

She said she brought the issue to the finance board so they were aware in case the ambulance company exceeds its budget and needs to come back to the town to recoup any overages. 

The finance board declined to make a formal motion to accept the terms of the agreement since there’s no cost to the town currently. 

Member Andy Russell said it was sufficient for Shoemaker to bring the issue to the finance board’s attention. 

“The Board of Finance deals in the money side, and we don’t deal in the management part of it,” he said.