Statewide Overtime Mandate Threatens Local Bargaining Authority, Strains Emergency Response Services

On February 18, Associate Policy Director Karrington Anderson testified before the Finance Committee in opposition to SB 445 – Employment Standards – Firefighters – Payment of Wages and Payroll Information. 

This bill would eliminate local bargaining authority over firefighter overtime policies and instead establish a statewide standard, resulting in a massive new unfunded mandate.

SB 445 is a one-size-fits-all approach that threatens to undermine local operations, place an undue financial burden on county governments, and compromise emergency response services for Maryland residents.

This legislation would replace locally negotiated firefighter overtime policies with a uniform statewide standard. Counties currently bargain schedules and overtime provisions to balance local service demands, workforce realities, and fiscal constraints. By imposing a rigid 42-hour threshold without funding or flexibility, SB 445 would create significant new costs and place added strain on emergency response systems already facing recruitment challenges.

From MACo Testimony: 

Firefighter schedules, hours, and overtime are currently − and properly − among the topics collectively bargained between the local government and the employee representatives. In some jurisdictions, where the employees have prioritized a work schedule that leads to 42 or 40 hours per week, the bargaining process has allowed the county government to secure other trade-offs to make the needed service levels affordable. SB 445 fails to do this by substituting the State’s judgment on this single element, and arbitrarily imposing an overtime standard with no regard to any offsets that could have been bargained.

More on MACo’s Advocacy: 

SB 445’s cross-file, HB 532, was heard on February 19 in the Government, Labor, and Elections Committee. Karrington Anderson also testified in opposition to this bill.