Fairfax police say the county is shirking its obligation to give mandated salary raises to officers completing 15 and 20 years of service.
The Fairfax Police Department has filed a lawsuit against the county demanding the pay increases, according to Marshall Thielen, president of the Fairfax County Coalition of Police.
“Last budget year, and in the budget they just passed, the county board voted not to fund longevity pay, even if they had the money in their budgets,” Thielen said.
He also said the board opted not to change the county regulations regarding longevity pay, and therefore was violating its own laws.
“We’re demanding that they adhere to the law that they passed decades ago,” Thielen said.
Board Chairman Sharon Bulova said it was “unfortunate” that the police had chosen to file the suit.
“Due to the difficult economic climate, we could not provide pay increases for any of our employees,” Bulova said.
“We didn’t feel that we could pick and choose who gets a raise and who doesn’t,” she said.
The county’s fire and sheriff’s departments did not join the police department in the lawsuit, although all three are owed the pay increases. – Markham Heid
