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* The great Dan Mihalopoulos has a story which will make you want to pull your hair out and scream…
Already facing massive yearly budget deficits, the city of Chicago could face a bill in the hundreds of millions of dollars for police overtime in a long-running case on behalf of 8,500 current and former Chicago Police Department employees.
It’s been nearly 10 years since the case was filed and almost five years since a federal judge ruled in favor of the officers, who argued that the city “willfully violated” labor laws by miscalculating overtime pay they were due over a span of years.
But the two sides are still fighting over how much the city will have to pay.
An expert hired by the officers says the city owes the cops somewhere between $310 million and $450 million, court records show. City Hall’s hired expert says it’s much less — no more than about $195 million.
Even that is far more than the $14 million the city could have settled the case for at the start, Paul Geiger, a former police union attorney who represented the police officers who sued, said after a court hearing Thursday.
Geiger said the figure keeps growing because of interest that’s compounding as the case goes on.
Go read the rest. Unreal.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 10:32 am
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I’m not sure why Rich thinks this story is a bad thing. When the government willfully steals from labor, and then the justice system directs the government to repay those willfully stolen funds, I think that’s a cause for celebration.
Comment by Garfield Ridge Guy Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 10:45 am
$14 million becomes $195 million (or even $310 million) over 10 years because of compound interest? That math ain’t mathing. There is some other cost the story does not mention.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 10:46 am
===I’m not sure why Rich thinks this story is a bad thing===
LOL
They shoulda just paid up years ago and avoided this mess.
You should try to work on your reading comprehension.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 10:50 am
Isn’t the same thing happening with all he Fire department? Aren’t they working without a contract for several years? So if they get a new deal wouldn’t it be retroactive?
Comment by DuPage Saint Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 10:54 am
Keep in mind it has been multiple administrations that have been kicking this can down the road.
Comment by Henry Francis Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 10:59 am
=== I think that’s a cause for celebration. ===
Yeah, because wasting taxpayer money we don’t have simply because our elected officials were stubborn is awesome.
Comment by Just Me 2 Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 11:10 am
Multiple administrations but they all have one thing in common.
D
Comment by Tequila Mockingbird Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 11:12 am
==- DuPage Saint - Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 10:54 am:==
Regarding retroactivity, if it is similar to the FOP contract, as long the union provided certain notifications to the city, the deals are retroactive as far as pay. When Mike Shields was FOP president and Rahm Emanuel was mayor, Shields screwed that up and it gave Rahm a huge bargaining chip.
Comment by Google Is Your Friend Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 11:15 am
“$14 million becomes $195 million (or even $310 million) over 10 years because of compound interest? That math ain’t mathing. There is some other cost the story does not mention.”
True. I mean even 14M in the market exactly 10 years is only going to get into the higher double digits… 30M on the low side, maybe 50-60M plus on the high side.
My guess is that 10 years of legal fees…is a significant portion of that.
Comment by Ron - In Texas Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 11:19 am
Lawyers and unions…a match made in Illinois Politics Heaven
Comment by Beans Matter Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 11:42 am
= $14 million becomes $195 million (or even $310 million) over 10 years because of compound interest? =
No. The $14 million was what the settlement would have been. Because the city chose not to settle, the court must now determine the actual amount owed.
Comment by JoanP Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 11:49 am
“No. The $14 million was what the settlement would have been. Because the city chose not to settle, the court must now determine the actual amount owed.”
Ah, thats correct. good catch. The police lawyers OFFERED a Settlement at 14M. they city said no. it coul;d have started at 20 or 30 or whatever, and now…
thnaks picking that up. I think you are correct.
If I remember right this was like the CPD used to require people to show up early or not clock in until they did other things and basically the court said “the second you as a employer start telling them what to do, they are “working”
So these cops never saw the overtime, were probably happy to even get 50% of it back. Now that the city fought them…
Comment by Ron - In Texas Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 11:52 am
The settlement number and today’s possible liability is not a valid comparison- Had the City settled 10 years ago for 10 million it then would have started to correctly pay the OT- so over 10 years the payments would have been multiples of the proposed settlement- in any event- more headaches for the Mayor- and perhaps new cause for his supposed panic attacks
Comment by Sue Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 11:57 am
More tax hikes on working families already stretched to far to pay for government incompetence is definitely a bad thing
Comment by Johnny B Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 11:59 am
==Lawyers and unions…a match made in Illinois Politics Heaven==
How is any of this their fault? Heaven forbid they would sue for money they are OWED.
Comment by Demoralized Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 12:15 pm
=Heaven forbid they would sue for money they are OWED.=
Suing people is a very maga thing these days, I would have thought he would be happy.
Comment by JS Mill Monday, Jul 21, 25 @ 2:28 pm