MEDFORD – Firefighters in Medford denied Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn’s accusations that a recent spike in sick days was an “orchestrated event.”
Lungo-Koehn said last week that the first Friday in February, about a dozen firefighters called out sick. A day later, 21 out of 23 firefighters called out sick for their day shifts. Fire Chief John Freedman retired unexpectedly a few days later.
The mayor said the city had to pay more than $58,000 in overtime to cover shifts. Combined, Lungo-Koehn said it cost a total of more than $92,000 in sick pay and overtime costs.
Medford Firefighters Local 1032 released a statement on Tuesday denying sick time abuse. The union said Lungo-Koehn attacked firefighters “with nothing more than rumors and gossip.”
“Local 1032 has made numerous attempts to address these false accusations directly with the Mayor, but each was ignored by her in favor of publicizing these allegations through baseless and defamatory statements on social media and in the news,” the statement said. “This leaves us with no choice but to make a public statement as well. Local 1032 categorically denies any involvement in or facilitation of sick time abuse. The Union has always been clear that sick time abuse of any kind is unacceptable.”
