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Atlanta Fire Lt. Shomari Owens told the Atlanta City Council in August of last year that he had served as a sergeant for five years without receiving sergeant pay.
“For five years I’ve done the job, risked my life, ran into burning buildings, and I have not been paid,” Owens said.
The Atlanta Firefighters Union says that even after that public outcry, the city still did not pay Owens, and that is when the union alleges the retaliation began.
“For some reason, the city couldn’t pay Shomari everything that he was owed, so he did the last thing he knew to do. He came to a city council meeting and asked his public officials to help him. What did the fire chief do? He filed two charges on him: truthfulness and public criticism. He offered him no help, no compensation, and now he’s trying to take away his career. That’s not right,” Atlanta Firefighters Union President Nate Bailey said.
Bailey says Lt. Owens received a letter of dismissal one week ago in October.
He is asking City Council members and the public to come to the aid of this dedicated firefighter.
“By our calculation, he was owed around $50,000. He did the job for five years. The city paid him a little over $10,000 last year, and he never got fully compensated. We want him to be fully compensated. He wants the charges dropped. We want the City of Atlanta to start holding department heads accountable when they target and retaliate against their employees,” Bailey said.
The city tells FOX 5:
“AFRD cannot speak to allegations made by the union. Every sworn employee within the department goes through the same disciplinary process, which is determined by the Office of Professional Standards policies and rubrics.”
